MUMBAI: The PTC Punjabi Film Awards 2013 will take place on 1 March. The PTC Network will not only take the awards across India, but also across the world to USA, Canada and Australia. In UK, the awards will be recorded and telecast.

PTC Punjabi, PTC News and PTC Chak De director and CEO Rajiee M Shinde said, "The PTC Punjabi Film Awards are our tribute to the fast growing world of Punjabi cinema."

According to industry estimates, in 2011, only 10 Punjabi films were released. This grew to more than double in 2012, when as many as 24 Punjabi films were released and it is expected that as many as 40 Punjabi films are expected to be released in 2013.

PTC Punjabi, PTC News & PTC Chak De president Rabindra Narayan said, "Of the 24 films released in 2012, more than half have received one or more nominations across 22 competition categories and a total of 127 nominees. The PTC Punjabi Film Awards will also felicitate top movie icons with the prestigious PTC Punjabi Film Awards for Lifetime Achievement for their mammoth contributions to the industry."

Shinde concluded, "When we created the PTC Punjabi Film Awards, we had set out to create a benchmark for not just our own industry, but the category of awards, and I am glad that in terms of its scale and sweep, the PTC Punjabi Film Awards? 2013 edition will cover, recognize, reward and serve an industry that is growing phenomenally. "

Last year, celebrities from Bollywood and Punjabi cinema, like Dharam Ji (Dharmendra), Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Ali Zafar, Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover, Om Puri, Prem Chopra, Gurdas Maan, Harbhajan Maan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Raza Murad, Goldie Behl, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Malkit Singh, Puneet Issar, as well as the glamorous ladies of Bollywood like Anushka Sharma, Genelia Deshmukh, Aditi Rao, Anita Raj and Jaspinder Narula, attended the show of PTC Punjabi Film Awards.