Mumbai: India has become a popular destination of Hollywood and foreign film makers prompting the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to clear projects quickly.
The I & B ministry has cleared 11 projects this year and has nine more in various stages of approval, while in 2009 it approved 24 foreign films to be shot in various Indian locations.
"We have given permission for more than 100 movies in the last three to four years," Joint Secretary (Films) D P Reddy was quoted as saying by GEO tv.
"It's primarily because we have a lot of good locales where shooting can take place and we have the technical competence. The services are pretty competitive. It makes a lot of sense to come," he said.
In the 1920s, German director Franz Osten made a series of black-and-white silent films inspired by India's many religions and rich history.
Richard Attenborough's Academy Award wining "Gandhi" (1982) was largely shot in India and brought the country to a worldwide audience.
More recently, major films such as the James Bond thriller "Octopussy" (1983), "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) and "A Mighty Heart" (2007) have all used Indian locations.
This year's "Eat Pray Love", starring Julia Roberts, was the first high-profile film since "Slumdog Millionaire" to come to India on location.
Reddy said the movie makers have been coming from all over the world, the recent permission being given to studios behind the "Mission: Impossible" franchise and the big screen adaptation of the novel "Life of Pi".
Other films in the pipeline include "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" starring British actress Judy Dench and directed by John Madden, whose previous credits include "Shakespeare in Love" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin".
Last year, some three billion cinema tickets were sold in India, compared with 1.5 billion in the United States, according to a Crisil media and entertainment report last September.
In 2009, nearly 60 Hollywood films were released, earning a combined revenue of 85.5 million dollars.
Dubbing into local languages is becoming more accepted, although the revenue potential for Hollywood films is lower than in developed countries because of cheap ticket prices, they added.
"The last 12 months have seen a dramatic growth of Hollywood in India" with US films' share of theatrical revenues now at about 10 per cent, said Vijay Singh, chief executive of Fox Star Studios.
New audiences are also being exposed to Hollywood films through the burgeoning satellite television sector, which shows both the original English and dubbed versions, he added.