MUMBAI, January 21: From a bureaucratic film financing body, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has come a long way. Riding on a satellite channel boom, NFDC would for the first time be clocking a record net profit of Rs 5 crore on a turnover of over Rs 150 crore in the current fiscal year.Ironically, the bulk of its profits would be coming from businesses other than film financing, officials said. ``The satellite channel boom, coupled with high recovery from financed films, has transformed NFDC from a loss-making organisation into a mini-ratna,'' managing director of NFDC, Ravi Gupta, said.``We realised early that television is going to be the medium of the future and started making programmes keeping TV viewers in mind. Thus it was natural that we gained the maximum from the satellite TV boom by selling software to channels,'' he said.In the current fiscal year, the Corporation sold over 100 movies to private channels, which helped it increase its profitability, Gupta said.Enthusedby NFDC's success, Gupta is holding talks with various insurance companies to provide an insurance cover for the film industry, where sources of funds have dried up due to Mumbai police's crackdown on the underworld.The financial breakthrough, Gupta said, came when NFDC took over Doordarshan's Metro channel and began marketing slots. From 1993 onwards, NFDC started making profits by marketing film-based programmes like `Superhit Muqabla' which were instant hits, getting high TRPs.Subsequently, the demand for quality software from private TV channels made NFDC look at the television industry, where competition didn't even exist. With the core area of film finance turning out to be a non-profit-making business, the corporation had to change, and fast.Gupta said: ``Our diversification into TV with quality programmes has paid off, and a few of our programmes are getting the highest TRPs.'' Besides, the NFDC has also emerged as one of India's largest film exporters, earning millions in precious foreign exchange. ``We have participated in some of the world's most important film festivals. This helped us carve a niche for Indian cinema,'' the managing director added.At the same time, the corporation has launched a web site (nfdcindia.com) through which it solicits business from across the globe. A quick look at the site provides a potential customer with details about the Corporation and its nationwide network of offices. Surfers can have access to its key officials and rich archives, and the site also gives all details about how to make a movie in India.Amit Khanna, chief of Plus Channel said NFDC has been successful as Doordarshan's marketing agency. ``We're not competing with NFDC in any way as we didn't begin our business with film financing,'' he said. Plus Channel is also providing software to various channels and making movies, though with little success. Other competitors like the high-profile ABCL also tried to get into the same business and almost closed shop.The NFDC has identified many areas for diversification in the coming years. It will soon have a state-of-the-art studio equipped with the latest gizmos for special effects.At the same time, the Corporation doesn't want to lose focus on its core area: film financing. In fact, in order to bring legitimate funds into a film industry dominated by black money, NFDC is talking to various financial institutions to finance movies.
