MUMBAI: India's media and entertainment sector is set to double in size in the next five years to reach 1,661 billion rupees ($30.6 billion) by 2017, a study said.

Despite a slowdown in the Indian economy, the industry is being driven by growth in regional media, upcoming elections, a strong film industry and digitisation, according to the report by global consultancy group KPMG.

The sector grew by 12.6 per cent to 821 billion rupees in 2012 from 2011 and is expected to see a growth rate of 11.8 per cent this year, it said.

Television remains the dominant segment, despite the huge popularity and turnover of the Bollywood film industry.

The television sector grew by 12.5 per cent year-on-year in 2012 to 370.1 billion rupees, print – the second-largest sector – was up 7.3 per cent at 224.1 billion rupees and films were up 21.0 percent to 112.4 billion rupees.

“In 2012, the economic slowdown hit the industry hard – especially advertising revenue,” said the report.

“However, many seeds of positive change were sown this year,” it said, pointing to the beginning of the industry's digital transformation, including the roll-out of cable digitisation.

The report was released in conjunction with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) at an annual conference on media and entertainment in Mumbai.

Opening the event, FICCI's media and entertainment committee chairman Uday Shankar said efforts to curb free speech in India were among the biggest challenges that threatened to derail the industry's growth.

“We are not far from a point where someone's sneeze or a cough on a television show will be a source of offence and outrage for many,” Shankar said.

“What makes it worse is that increasingly the democratic institutions have more patience for those who promote intolerance.”