By Monica Chadha BBC correspondent in Delhi

India's chicken industry hopes to flourish during bird flu scare

But when it comes to promoting poultry, these august bodies do not have paltry budgets.

The NECC in particular often embarks on extensive advertising campaigns on radio and television.

Now the bird flu crisis has erupted in South-East Asia, the two organisations have decided on an innovative "fair is fowl" approach.

They have enlisted some of Bollywood's best to take part in a publicity campaign to re-assure people that Indian chickens are safe to cook.

Good to eat

A large number of Indians have stopped eating chicken following an outbreak of suspected avian flu in neighbouring Pakistan.

So the poultry industry approached in Bollywood actors Sunil Shetty and Sanjay Dutt to promote their cause.

"We asked Sunil and Sanjay if they would do this for us and they immediately agreed," the PDPC and NECC president, Anuradha Desai, told BBC News Online.

"Both actors have tremendous fan-following and we thought people would readily believe their idols. To give them credit, they did not charge us any money for it."

For the PDPC and NECC, the participation of such Bollywood greats was akin to hiring the proverbial bird that laid the golden egg.

Sunil Shetty will add a touch of glamour to the chicken industry

Both these actors were featured on the pages of national papers, lustily digging their teeth into chicken pieces and proclaiming they eat the birds because they are a good source of protein.

They also rubbished claims that there was a possibility of them getting bird flu from eating it.

Mrs Desai said that the campaign was part of the strategy to build confidence among consumers.

"The industry has lost close to 5 billion rupees ($111m) in the last 10-12 days and on average, we are losing about 100 million rupees every day," she said.

"We have to try and revive this industry as there are close to three million people dependent on it.

"We must make sure the farmers don't lose out on their livelihood or else the devastation will be enormous."

The council has asked its branches to provide free chicken to consumers in so-called chicken fairs across the country as another confidence-building measure.

Such fairs have been held in the capital, Delhi, the southern city of Hyderabad and Chandigarh in the north.

Indian consumers are being urged to eat more chickens

According to the council, they received a tremendous response.

"The branch in Hyderabad used about 8,000 birds for the fair," said Mrs Desai. "I am told they had to turn back thousands of people because it was over within no time at all!"

While she admits there has been a slight improvement in sales ever since they began spreading awareness about the disease, the results are still to be seen on the ground.

Fishmongers happy

Davinder Singh is a chicken vendor in Delhi's central market and he says there has been no improvement in business.

"Ever since the fear of this bird flu spread here, I have faced a 40% drop in my daily sales," he said.

"Besides, the stock I manage to sell is going at a little over half its original price.

"Either way, I am making a loss every day."

On the other hand, fish vendors seemed to have experienced a jump in their sales. Sachin is a happy fishmonger.

"Fish that would sell at 150 rupees (just over $3) now sells at 250 rupees."

Senior school student Akshita Wahi loved her chicken until the bird flu scare.

Now, she doesn't eat eggs or her favourite butter chicken. "It just isn't worth the risk," she says.

Businessman Shashank Goel says he eats chicken but it is "an informed decision".

The impact of bird flu in India The number of people coming to buy fish has also increased in the past few days Delhi fishmonger Sachin Singh

He said: "Only 20 people have died of bird flu around the world and there are at least two to three million people eating chicken at any given time.

"Besides, we cook it really well so there really isn't that much cause for concern."

Meanwhile, the Indian poultry industry has received a number of inquiries from the Middle East and Europe for chicken exports following the exit of Asian countries hit by bird flu from the market.

Mrs Desai says this could turn out to be one positive development from the bird flu scare.

"Maybe now people will realise that if the chicken is good enough to be exported abroad, then it would be safe enough to eat back home," she said.