Monetary rewards appear to be the best way of tackling software piracy.

The Business Software Alliance has launched campaigns inviting people to report piracy within companies and get monetary rewards of up to Rs 5 lakh.

BSA, an anti-piracy initiative in collaboration with Nasscom in India, recently conducted 200 raids being in response to the over 150 leads it received through its hotlines and website since 2006, seizing software worth around $2.1 million (little over Rs 8 crore).

It estimates that over 85 per cent of the informants are current or ex-employees. However, it's not ready to reveal the actual number of people who have received the rewards.

Sanjay Gupta, Chairman BSA India Committee, says: "BSA programs are directed towards creating awareness about not only the  rampancy of piracy but also the significant risks and perils of piracy in the country and those caught can be punished in accordance with the laws. We are encouraging people to speak up and be a part of the anti-piracy drive. We all need to do more, since the piracy levels in countries like China and Russia are dropping faster than in India."

A study conducted by BSA estimates that a 10-point drop in piracy in India from 74-64  per cent over four years would add 115,847 jobs, $5.9 billion in contribution to India's GDP, $386 million in taxes and $5.2 billion in revenues to local vendors.

Hence the alliance is pushing the panic button for all the parties concerned, with most of the major global IT companies extending their support.

With the IT-ITes industry projected to grow to $60-75 billion in the next three years, such forms of checking the piracy bug could act as a catalyst towards achieving such a figure.