India is a country with an area of 3287263 Sq. Km. and a population of about 900 million with 18 official languages and 32 dialects. Its vast geographical expanse and mind-boggling socio-economic and cultural diversity make it easy for pirates to camouflage and hide their activities. Yet, undaunted by the magnitude of the problem IMI has been indefatigable in its efforts to tackle the problem of music piracy. There is hardly any other institution that has been as monumental in curbing piracy and branding it as a crime that is affected neither by language nor geographies.

The last few years have seen a remarkable rise in the number of successful raids carried out by IMI. With even more stringent law enforcement and efficient intelligence networks, IMI has been vastly successful in extirpating pirates across the length and breadth of the country.

All this has been made possible under the leadership of some of the best known names in law enforcement. Taking on the reigns of IMI’s Anti-piracy Operations towards the end of 1996, it has been due to people like Mr. J.F. Ribeiro that IMI has grown from a mere organization to an important, international player in curbing piracy.

Formerly Commissioner of Police Mumbai, Director General of Police Punjab and Indian Ambassador to Romania, Mr. J.F. Ribeiro has vastly improved and adapted the entire strategic, law-enforcement and intelligence platform IMI works on to tackle the new-age, technology-savvy pirate world.

Under his aegis, a well-structured Anti-piracy Organization has been set up by IMI covering the entire country that has been split into specific regions. These regions are headed by senior ex-police officers (appointed as regional coordinators) and assisted by teams at various places within their regions.

	North and North-Eastern Region: Anti-piracy operations in the North and North-Eastern Region are headed by Mr. J.N Saxena, Dy. Chief Coordinator, responsible for activities in Delhi, Lucknow, Meerut, Jallandhar, Patna and Guwahati and over all coordination with Mr. Rebeiro for all India operations.
	Western and Southern Regions: In the Western and Southern Regions, operations are headed by Ms. Nina Engineer assisting her are teams in Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bangalore, Chennai, Madurai, Hyderabad and Calicut
	East: Operations in the Eastern States of West Bengal, Orissa, and all the 7 states of North East are headed by Mr. Kiriti Sengupta, former Additional Commissioner of Police, Kolkatta. These regions are assisted by IPR teams in Kolkata, and Siliguri.

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The functions of these anti-piracy teams essentially entail:

	Identifying units manufacturing pirated audio cassettes and compact discs and also identifying retailers and wholesalers of pirated recordings.
	Assisting Law Enforcement authorities to conduct raids on those violating Copyright Law.
	Helping in the identification of pirated cassettes & CDs.
	Providing documentation needed in the course of investigations along with necessary evidence, witnesses etc. for the successful completion of the case.
	Conducting Police Training Programmes.