Media Release
Panaji, Oct 17: The promoters of Miditech have sought to clarify, with regard to recent reports about irregular land transactions, that the allocation of land to the company followed all the due processes of law.
The Promoters have made well documented efforts since early 2007 to get the project off the ground, including bringing on board the world’s largest media company as an equity investor; the land is lease hold land, allocated for a 30 yr period, and as such cannot be leveraged by either Miditech or the promoters for financial gain; all payments for the lease etc. have been made speedily and as per schedule; no attempt has been made by the promoters to either change the terms of the lease or usage of the land. Consequently, the only people who have suffered financially as a result of this allocation, are the Promoters themselves.
Miditech is one of India’s biggest independent production companies, that has been in business for over 18 years. Its promoters, Niret and Nikhil Alva, are Internationally recognized Television Producers having produced over 7000 hrs of television programming over the years and have won over 80 National and International Awards. Miditech’s client list includes some of the worlds biggest media companies, including Time Warner, Disney, Fox, News Corp, Zee, Viacom, Sony, Discovery and many others. In addition, Miditech also works with State Governments across India, NGO’s and corporates like Nestle, GMR, Tata etc.
An important part of Miditech’s growth plans has been the development of local animation for global markets. Miditech realized that to build a strong presence in the animation space it would need to develop infrastructure that would allow fresh new talent to be trained and where projects could be executed in a world class environment. After studying several options, Goa was narrowed down as the final choice and plan presented to GIDC in 2006.
Consequently, in December 2006, GIDC allocated Miditech approximately 16 acres of Lease Hold land, to develop an Animation Hub, at the Shiroda Industrial Estate, Goa. The allocation of this land was made strictly in accordance with the law and all due processes were followed.
In order to develop the proposed animation hub in Goa into a world class facility, Miditech brought in the world’s biggest media company Time Warner/ Turner as a 29% equity holder in Miditech. The funds from the investment were to go into expanding Miditech’s production business including developing an Animation hub in Goa, which was an important part of Miditech’s plans.
Unfortunately, in early 2008, the global financial crisis hit economies around the world. The United States in general and the media sector specifically were amongst the worst hit. As a result, all fresh investments by Time Warner/ Turner were put on hold or frozen. The entire Animation industry was also badly hit and it is still not back to the levels it was at in 2006-07. Given the global financial crisis and the lack of interest in investing into new green field projects, Miditech had to put it’s Goa Animation Hub plans on hold .
At the end of 2010, given that Timer Warner/ Turner clearly didn’t have the appetite any longer for fresh investments into the production/ animation space, the promoters of Miditech, Niret and Nikhil Alva, bought the 29% stake held by Time Warner/ Turner in Miditech back and in April 2011, regained complete, independent control over the company. Since April, 2011, they have been scouting for new International partners to bring on board, to bring the Animation Project in Goa to life. This however, is a time consuming process.
It is hoped that through this release the issues raised in some sections of the press stand clarified and that the highly defamatory, politicized and motivated statements being issued by some individuals in Goa and being reported on by the Press, will come to a stop.