Ever since a day after official launch of Microsoft’s latest Windows 7 operating system on October 22, nearly 50,000 pirated DVDs of the OS have hit the Indian markets big time – generating a whopping unaccounted business that runs up to almost Rs 50 lakh, or $100,000!

The key factor alluring buyers of pirated copies of software is the low cost – in the case of Windows 7, the Rs 6,000-11,000 ranging price-tag of the legal version of the OS is enormously higher than the Rs 250 being charged for the pirated versions.

In fact, the pirated copies are available at a cost as low as Rs 40 in the Nasa Market in Hazratganj, Uttar Pradesh (UP). As such, these pirated versions are alluring buyers not only from other parts of UP, but also from neighboring states of Bihar, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh; as well as those from countries like Nepal and Bangladesh.

A Naza Market shopkeeper, desiring to remain unnamed, said: “There are over 200 shops in Naza Market. All have everything you want. We are not doing anything illegal as everything is available on the Internet. We are only transferring and supplying to buyers who include students, professionals and even big business houses.”

However, the rampant software piracy is delivering an unwarranted blow to the business of the authentic software suppliers, who reportedly “do not get the expected business.”