This was stated by the IMI officials at an awareness course conducted for the officers of the West Bengal Police in Kolkata on Friday.

Senior police officers admitted that they were not aware of the violation caused by such downloads.

“I have seen my son listening to music on his mobile phone. I did not know that his action falls under the purview of the Piracy Act,” said R N Sirkar, Inspector General of Police (Training).

The IMI is a voluntary body that was set up by music companies in 1936 to prevent phonographic piracy in the country.

IMI president V J Lazarus said that every year, the music industry loses approximately Rs 700 crore to piracy.

“A new threat has emerged in the form of mobile phone chip piracy. We estimate that the total revenue loss due to chip piracy stands at Rs 300 crore yearly,” he said.

According to Lazarus, downloading songs from free websites to mobile phones is illegal.

“In doing so, people are violating sections 51 and 63 of the Copyrights Act 1957,” said Lazarus.

The maximum punishment for the crime is six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000.

“Sometimes, the mobile phone dealers provide extra facilities like downloaded songs to customers. This is absolutely illegal,” said Savio D’souza, secretary general of the IMI.

The authorities are not targeting the end users for violating the norms.