A special copyright protection report submitted by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has revealed that 68 percent of the top piracy sites in India are illegal anime and manga websites.
The 2026 Special 301 submission, filed on Jan 28, highlighted that India remained hindered by widespread piracy and a challenging enforcement environment. Of the top 25 piracy sites available in India today (excluding music-focused platforms) ten (40 percent) were identified as pirate anime sites, while another seven (28 percent) were pirate manga sites.
With two additional sites devoted to local Indian content, the data indicated that less than 30 percent of the region’s top piracy traffic focused on mainstream U.S. movies, TV shows, and streaming content.
This trend aligned with previous warnings from the Authorized Books of Japan (ABJ) which had cautioned that India could become the next major global hub for piracy, especially for illegal manga consumption.
The market for Japanese animation has expanded rapidly in the region, with 44 percent of general entertainment consumers in India aged 13-54 identified as anime fans according to a survey in 2025 cited by Crunchyroll. The genre was outpacing the growth of K-dramas and Bollywood in terms of interest in India.
However, a significant portion of this audience resorts to piracy, viewing it as a viable and free alternative to paid subscription services such as Crunchyroll and Anime Times.
While this rise in popularity is likely one of the factors for rise in anime and manga piracy, the IIPA report noted that the rise in share of anime and manga piracy websites was also attributable, in part, to the consistent and aggressive orders issued by the Delhi High Court to disable access to top pirate film and general entertainment sites.
However, in recent times, the Delhi High Court has also ruled against anime piracy sites, as streaming giants Netflix and Crunchyroll have increased their efforts to dismantle the piracy network rampant in India.
In Dec 2025, the Delhi High Court issued a “Dynamic+ injunction” and restrained 47 websites, including Animesuge, 9anime, Anikoto and others, from hosting or streaming copyrighted content.
The court observed that these infringing websites frequently resurfaced under new domain names or mirror links. The “Dynamic+” injunction allowed rights holders to block not only the current domains but also future alphanumeric variations and mirror sites without filing a fresh lawsuit.
The high court is also involved in the case against Vidsrc, which involves a network of over 200 piracy websites, including AnimeHeaven and AnimeKai.
Source: IIPA report via CBR