An anti-piracy group has doubled its reward to 20,000 Singapore dollars (12,200 US dollars) for people who report Singapore companies for using illegal software, a report said.

The Business Software Alliance has upped the ante following a new law, which came into effect on January 1, that allows for six months' jail for directors and IT managers of companies that use unlicensed or pirated software. The Straits Times newspaper quoted the alliance's director of anti-piracy in Asia, Tarun Sawney, as saying the previous reward of 10,000 dollars had been paid out "fairly regularly".

In one instance, a whistleblower was given 20,000 dollars because the magnitude of the piracy was so great, with unlicensed software being shared around 100 computers, according to the Straits Times.

The paper said a Business Software Alliance study had found Singapore's software piracy rate was 43 percent, which translated into losses for companies of 148 million dollars a year.