Two for Rs 1,000!

Windows XP in a double-CD set is normally yours for Rs 70, but can cost Rs
100 if you are wearing a pair of jeans, Rs 500 if you are seen stepping out of
an expensive car, Rs 1,000 if you look like you can and will pay up, and even Rs
2,000, if you look new to the process of buying pirated software. "We were
selling Windows XP days before it was launched in India. And yes, it did come
with clip-arts and all other hot features," a confident voice informs us in
Nehru Place. "Even now, we can supply software before it comes to
India," the voice adds.

Nehru Place is the hot-bed of pirated software. You will find dealers–some
50 in all–in various assorted tables strewn around the place. There are
perfectly legitimate CDs on display–usually Windows tutorials by Indian
companies. But other brands and programs are available too–ask for Adobe
Photoshop and it materializes instantly, almost out of the blue. Somebody will
even pull out a tucked-up shirt and fish out the CD from within his clothes, and
you can catch a glimpse of an assortment of other CDs tucked away where this one
came from.

The software sold here even comes with a warranty...well, of sorts.
"Bring it back if there are installation problems. We’ll refund your
money or exchange the CD." Name a software and they have it. Ditto for game
CDs, MP3s to some extent, and pirated VCDs to a lesser extent. "If a
particular title is not available, we will get it for you," says another
dealer.

With the industry going through a not-so-bright patch, how have sales been?
"We don’t think there’s been any bad phase. We don’t know statistics,
but during the summer vacations, you should have seen the number of cars lined
up. We had huge sales," says one. "Surveys will, of course, not
reflect the exact figures. Go around and ask the dealers…," piped up
another.

Selling prices are not fixed, and vary from customer to customer. There’s a
flat rate of Rs 100 per CD, irrespective of software content, for those used to
buying software from around here, and thus knowing what benchmark to bargain
for. Operating systems are the best grossers, with Windows ’98 topping the
list. As is understood, software used by the home segment or SMEs is available
more readily. A Lotus SmartSuite might be available, but will take more time to
purchase, because it will cost more.

Each individual dealer (the author spoke to 15 such) sells eight to ten CDs a
day on an average–translating into a neat profit of Rs 7,000-8,000 at the end
of the month. Multiply that with the number of dealers on the prowl, and profits
are in the range of Rs 400,000 and that is a conservative estimate.

The Grey, in Black and White Dealers offer a quasi ‘money-back warranty’ for pirated software They also promise to ‘source’ particular titles of CDs/VCDs/MP3s as per customer requirements Windows ’98 remains the ‘hottest’ item on the grey market menu

But the piracy picture is all but rosy. "There are frequent raids, at
least once a month. The policewallahs are all in the know. They take Rs 1,000
from us on a monthly basis. In fact, they make Rs 1 lakh on an average from
Nehru Place. Have you ever seen the cars they drive or the mobiles they carry?
Tell me, how can they afford to do so on the government salary they get,"
questions a dealer.

Another aspect is that while petty dealers manning the desks are put behind
bars or harassed, those who really run these operations get away scot-free.
Those who man the desks do so in return for a salary ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs
4,000.

A dealer not willing to be named revealed that the police recently arrested a
dealer, who was subsequently let off on a bail bond of Rs 2,00,000, apart from a
security of Rs 5,00,000. "The boss paid for this. The boss looks after us
as if we are family. But the police did not even question the antecedents of the
person who made bail. They could have back-tracked us, but didn’t. I can
guarantee there’ll be another raid soon–and at least one of us will be
caught. But it will be business as usual soon after."

Also needed to be understood is that it is the economic imbalance prevalent
in India that leads to piracy. The present scenario is such that for the average
user, it seems to be the only option out. Consider this–a design consultant
can expect to earn, on an average, between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 6 lakh every year.
If he wants to go in for a bouquet of legal software, Photoshop, Corel, Freehand
etc, these will cost him around Rs 4 lakh. The wannabe designer, therefore, has
two options–one, he buys only that legal software which he can afford–worth
some Rs 30,000–and do without the rest, affecting his business and earnings.
The second option–he picks up pirated stuff which costs him around Rs 1,000,
and gets on with his work, armed to the bone.

Pirated software is bad news for the companies that make them, right? Yes,
but they themselves have been responsible for creating tha malaise. Some of the
companies that are members of the BSA now had at one stage encouraged the use of
free software to ensure market penetration. If we look at the Asia-Pacific
market, a major reason why the Microsofts and Adobes made strong inroads into
China and Singapore was because pirated versions had already gone a great way in
increasing awareness. We can compare this with publishing houses distributing
copies of bestsellers to public libraries. But in the case of software, a
multi-user syndrome can be ruled out.

Again, at least a percentage of people buying pirated software would at some
stage go in for a legal version of the same, if only for tax reasons. They might
make five copies of the same later and use it in five different workstations,
but for a software company, this becomes a classic case of half a loaf being
better than none. Also, in a developing country like India, it is pirated
software that has helped ramp up PC penetration–how many of the local
cybercafes run on legal software–and helped bridge the much-talked-about
digital divide. This, in a backhanded way, is good news for companies. Going by
the simple rule of statistics, as the number of users increases and people
become aware of the de-merits of using pirated software, the sale of legal
software will also pick up. This will lead to a fall in the level of piracy in
India, which will settle down to an acceptable 15-20%, rather than the 75%-plus
levels it stands at today. Till then, its business as usual at Nehru Place.

Sudarshana Banerjee/CNS in New Delhi