MUMBAI: The vicious wave of piracy continues to eat into the revenues of the Indian music industry. According to information and broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi, the Indian music industry has lost 50 per cent of its share between 1999-2004 primarily due to piracy.

However, Dasmunsi assured that several steps have been taken and will be taken in the future by the government to curb piracy.

According to a report by PTI, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) pegs the size of the industry at Rs 5 billion in 2004 as compared to Rs 10 billion in 1999.

Dwelling also on the much talked about issue of CAS (conditional access system) in the Lok Sabha today, Dasmunsi further said that the government has held meetings with broadcasters, cable operators, consumer organisations and other stake holders with regard to the implementation of the CAS.

"There was a broad consensus that nine-month time is required to take preparatory steps and to implement CAS smoothly and as such no exact time-frame can be indicated," he was reported as saying.