The Hindu Business Line : `90 pc of Adobe software in use are pirated copies'

"In India, 90 per cent of Adobe software is being used in the pirated version so the company revenues are substantially affected," Mr Naresh Gupta, MD, Adobe Systems India, told Business Line.

While China heads the list of countries having the highest rate of software piracy, India is not far behind, said Mr Partha Iyengar, VP-Research, Gartner (India).

According to IDC, software piracy in the country is estimated at 73 per cent with losses amounting to approximately $350 million (2003 statistics).

"Without piracy the numbers would be incremental revenues for these firms; so look at the loss to the company. There is also a multiplier effect what with corporates themselves using pirated software," Mr Iyengar said.

While Adobe's sales in Japan a similar market to India touches $250 million the Indian market contributed only $4 million compared to $2.5 million in China last year on account of software piracy, observed Mr Bruce Chizen, CEO, Adobe, during his visit to India last year.

For Adobe the loss amounts to the inability, "to invest the money in India-centric initiatives such as localisation of products. We are trying to combat piracy through consumer awareness and providing the original software at affordable rates," Mr Gupta said.

Meanwhile, the company will continue to invest in its Indian operations. This year Adobe would invest $10 million on (infrastructure) capacity expansion at Noida with plans to hire 150 people for its R&D centre by the year-end.

"Once the building is completed, the capacity will increase from accommodating 400 people to 800 people," added Mr Gupta. Interestingly, Adobe India has filed 20 patent applications till date in areas of mobile devices, image search and image compression.

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