India isn’t just consuming influence; it is exporting it

From Avneet Kaur brushing shoulders with Hollywood star Tom Cruise to Jannat Zubair fronting cross-border fashion campaigns, Indian influencers are no longer confined to local brand work. They're showing up at global premieres, striking international deals, and building audiences that span continents. Furthermore this moment is not a fluke or a PR play; it is the result of something foundational.

We are witnessing the rise of an export-ready influencer economy, one that is uniquely Indian in its roots and unapologetically global in its ambition. What is enabling this scale and visibility is a blend of creator hustle and tech-led infrastructure. India’s influencer economy isn’t just big; it is different.

For years, India has been seen as a market that consumes global trends. But today, we are exporting influence, not just importing it.

What used to be one-off shoutouts or momentary flashes of stardom for celebs like Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra has now evolved into consistent international partnerships. Indian influencers are now on the radar of beauty brands in Korea, fintech startups in the UAE, and entertainment giants in the US, not as token faces, but as strategic voices with authentic reach and high-engagement audiences. This shift is the result of an ecosystem where creators, agencies, and platforms have rapidly matured, enabled by infrastructure that allows Indian content to travel globally, in real time, with measurable impact.

This dynamic sector now contributes 2.5% to the nation’s GDP and employs eight percent of the workforce. With an estimated valuation of $45.8 billion, it is expected to expand tenfold marking India as one of the most promising influencer economies on the planet.

AI-powered creator discovery

Gone are the days of guessing which influencer fits a campaign. Today, agencies rely on AI-driven platforms that map a creator’s audience demographics, past campaign data, content style, and regional influence offering brand match recommendations that are rooted in data, not gut instinct.

This has transformed influencer marketing into a science. Whether a brand is looking for creators with an NRI-heavy base in Canada, Tamil-speaking Gen Z audiences in Singapore, or finance-savvy followers across the Gulf platforms can pinpoint the right voices, fast.

Over 92% of creators are now leveraging AI in some form, with tools like AI Convert seeing a 235% spike in revenue. The rise of virtual influencers like Kyra and Naina further reflects the successful fusion of human creativity and AI collaboration, a uniquely Indian innovation in the global space.

Generative AI for localised content

For creators, AI is becoming an everyday tool. Script writing, idea generation, trend-mapping all of it is being powered by generative models that help creators move faster and smarter.

However, the biggest game-changer? Multilingual content.

Tools like real-time captioning, voice cloning, and AI-led translation are allowing creators to deliver the same content in multiple languages. Which is critical when your audience spans India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

This is not only making content more inclusive but also multiplying its reach and making Indian creators instantly relevant across borders.

On the execution side, brands are now tracking influencer campaigns live. From engagement spikes to sentiment shifts, everything is mapped in real time through dynamic dashboards. This allows marketers to optimise spends mid-campaign, identify what’s working, and amplify top-performing creators on the go.

For creators, this feedback loop means more transparency, clearer performance benchmarks, and a greater chance of recurring international partnerships.

One of the less glamorous but massively important aspects of tech in this space is contract standardisation and automated approvals. Influencer marketing used to be bogged down by back-and-forth legal loops. Now, smart contract tools streamline the process, making it easier for creators and agencies to scale collaborations especially with international teams.

This kind of backend efficiency is quietly fuelling India’s ability to deliver high-volume, cross-border campaigns without friction.

India’s advantage: Built in complexity, scaling with precision

India’s creator economy didn’t go global overnight. It was built in one of the most complex digital markets in the world where creators had to manage multiple languages, content formats, and audience segments from day one.

That pressure created resilience. That complexity built muscle.

Our creators were already localising content, hacking algorithms, and driving engagement across platforms before it was cool. Now, with tech finally catching up to that hustle, they’re able to do it at scale across borders, time zones, and markets.

Global brands are finally catching on

India at the moment ranks first globally in AI skill penetration, with a score of 2.8 ahead of the US and Germany. AI talent concentration in the country has grown by 263% since 2016. We house 16% of the world’s AI talent, and are the second-highest contributor of public GenAI projects on GitHub.

This is why India is uniquely positioned. Our creators don’t just make content. They know how to engineer virality. And our platforms don’t just analyse data. They know how to unlock discovery for global audiences.

More and more international brands are prioritising Indian creators — not as an afterthought, but as a first move. Whether it’s a tech brand trying to tap into India’s youth culture or a beauty label wanting to connect with the diaspora, creators from India are becoming essential to global strategy.

Cross-border collabs will become the default. AI-led influencer platforms will double down on regional optimisation. Creators will build micro-studios powered by generative tools. India will no longer just be a hotbed for creator volume, it will be a blueprint for performance-driven influencer marketing worldwide.

- Rahat S Khan, co-founder, Fame Keeda.