India’s creative economy is poised for its global leap

At FICCI Frames 2025, industry stakeholders from television, streaming, sports, and technology converged to examine how India’s media and entertainment ecosystem can scale sustainably, go global, and adapt to the era of artificial intelligence. Across sessions, the common refrain was clear — India has the talent, the scale, and the demand. What it needs now is institutional support, global visibility, and sharper collaboration across sectors.

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) managing director and chief executive officer, Gaurav Banerjee, set the tone with a keynote address that called for a fundamental rethink of how India grows its creative ‘orange economy’.
“The topic for today is regulating the orange economy, our creative universe. And it's not a new one. But it's certainly far more central today than it has ever been before,” he said.

Banerjee noted that India’s media and entertainment sector, valued at nearly $30 billion, contributes about 0.7% of the GDP and is growing at 7–8% annually. Yet, this is mostly from domestic consumption.

“So, the question before us today is what will it take to grow this astronomically? Where and how will the next big leap come from?” he asked.

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) managing director and chief executive officer, Gaurav Banerjee.

Banerjee urged the industry to build frameworks that allow content investments to scale like those in IT or pharma. “What will it take to truly create a huge volley of content investments that can fuel creativity in every major Indian language?” he said, adding that the foundation lies in aggregating human capital. “As a nation of 1.4 billion people possessing the world's deepest, most vibrant, and diverse cultural reservoir, our films, music, and digital creators should be watched, shared, and celebrated globally.”

Building stories that travel

At a fireside chat themed ‘Made in India: I-Dramas — Are our stories ready to travel across borders?’, Prime Video India’s senior leadership reflected on how local storytelling is finding global resonance. Shilangi Mukherji, director and head of SVOD business, and Nikhil Madhok, director and head of Originals, shared that Indian content was trending in Prime Video’s global top 10 every week in 2024, with nearly 25% of viewership coming from outside India.

“What we have learnt is that imitation will not take you far; what travels well is originality and authenticity,” said Madhok. “Our shows and movies compete with the finest content internationally, and the way we differentiate our content is by being original and authentic.”

Mukherji added that localisation has been key to expanding reach across and beyond India. “We create stories that surprise and delight our customers and ultimately offer something that customers can relate to. Through localisation, we also cater to audiences who are not of Indian origin or do not understand Indian languages.”

Nearly 60% of Prime Video India’s customers stream content in four or more languages, a sign of how multi-lingual audiences are fuelling content diversity. On building its Originals ecosystem, Madhok said the company had to build this initiative from the ground up, by identifying creators and writers and training them to develop long-form original series.

He added that many franchises like The Family Man, Mirzapur, Made in Heaven, Panchayat, Paatal Lok and Call Me Bae have since become long-running successes. “More than 60% of our fiction shows have gone into multiple seasons or are under development,” Madhok noted.

Mukherji pointed out that Prime Video’s Indian slate is its largest outside the US, with around 100 Originals in various stages of production or negotiation. “The only way for the streaming industry to be really inclusive is by bringing partners on board,” she said, referring to Prime Video’s over 25 add-on partners, 75,000 hours of additional content, and 8,500 movie rentals. “We’re seeing that 60% of our movie rental catalogue is rented every month, with transactions from 95% of India’s pin codes. We receive viewership from 99% of pin codes in India. In the last twelve months, nearly 25% of our streamers have been completely new to the service.”

Discussing Prime Video’s theatrical strategy, Madhok said, “While our core business is streaming, we really believe in the theatrical window and the magic of theatres.” From 2026, Prime Video will release three to four local Indian films from Amazon MGM Studios in theatres every year.

On global competitiveness, Mukherji emphasised the need for more deliberate localisation. “One of the key factors for driving global success is intentional localisation by investing in adapting content for different regions from the very beginning rather than treating it as an afterthought.”

AI’s growing role in brand engagement

Another discussion, ‘The AI-powered media revolution: From personalisation to interactive storytelling’, brought together Bharath Ram, chief product officer at JioHotstar; Shweta Bajpai, group director at Meta India; and Siddharth Shekhar, head of industry for tech, media and telecom at Google India, moderated by Abira Dhar of NDTV.

Ram underlined how India-built AI capabilities are redefining both viewer engagement and advertising. “The biggest advantage of developing AI solutions in India is the ability to iterate fast, learn fast, and build products rooted in local sensibilities,” he said.

JioHotstar’s chief product officer Bharath Ram, Meta India’s group director Shweta Bajpai; and Siddharth Shekhar, head of industry for tech, media and telecom at Google India in a session moderated by Abira Dhar of NDTV.

He noted that JioHotstar’s vast catalogue — from Special Ops and Bigg Boss to festive specials — serves as a testing ground for AI. “Our AI allows us to explore the full catalogue, understand what truly captures the viewer’s imagination, and connect brands to audiences more meaningfully.”

Ram added that AI’s next frontier is audience participation: “People no longer just want to consume content; they want to be part of it. The future lies in building interactive experiences that let fans express their passion for the shows and characters they love.”

The panel agreed that India’s advantage lies in leveraging AI for local languages, formats, and cultural contexts, where the technology can drive both creativity and commerce.

Sports viewing and personalisation

In another session, Ishan Chatterjee, CEO – Sports at JioStar, spoke about the transformation of India’s sports economy, describing it as being at an “inflection point”.

“The big trend that we are betting on is the rise of other sports in India,” he said. “Whether those are established sports like tennis, football, and kabaddi, or even newer ones like e-sports, that’s where we expect exponential growth.” Quoting a Deloitte study, Chatterjee said India’s sports economy could grow from $30 billion to $70 billion by 2030, outpacing several global markets.

He highlighted the need for inclusivity in coverage, particularly women’s cricket. “Our role as broadcasters is to give women’s cricket visibility, prime-time slots, and the right storytelling so it inspires the next generation.”

Ishan Chatterjee, CEO—Sports at Jiostar with former cricketer and coach Dinesh Karthik.

On the IPL, Chatterjee remarked, “During the last season we lit up over 1.1 billion screens across TV and digital. For the core fan it’s about depth and stats, but for the casual viewer it may be entertainment, creators, or even an IP like Motu Patlu engaging with kids. That mix is what keeps the IPL ecosystem growing.”

He outlined JioStar’s goal of personalised viewing: “Our vision for sports viewing is a completely personalised one-to-one feed. Two people can watch the same match, but the experience, camera angles, commentary, interactive features will be entirely different for each.”

Technological advances such as multi-cam viewing, vertical formats, and AI-driven highlights, he said, are already changing fan behaviour. “This is only the beginning.”

Netflix on India’s storytelling decade

Monika Shergill, vice president – content at Netflix India, reflected on the platform’s ten-year journey in conversation with RJ HrishiKay. “This 10-year journey is really about the audiences in India,” she said. “We are incredibly fortunate to have a country that loves entertainment so deeply.”

Shergill explained how streaming changed the dynamics of storytelling. “Earlier, people had little choice and watched whatever was given to them. Streaming changed that. Today, audiences pull stories toward them.”

She defined The Netflix Effect as the point when a story transcends screens to shape culture: “You know a story has connected when it sparks conversation, when you hear it in cafés, homes, memes, and social media. That is The Netflix Effect.”

Highlighting how regional content has gone global, she said, “About 70% of global viewing on Netflix happens on subtitles and dubs. That is how stories travel. Even smaller, hyper-local titles find audiences globally when given the opportunity.”

India’s creative industry at a turning point

Across FICCI Frames 2025, the tone was one of optimism tempered with realism. While India’s creative industries are expanding rapidly, the next leap — from domestic dominance to global influence — will depend on institutional collaboration, policy frameworks, and scalable investment in content and technology.

From Banerjee’s call for “aggregating human capital” to the streaming leaders’ emphasis on authenticity, localisation, and innovation, the summit underscored one defining truth: India’s media growth story is no longer about volume alone. Its future will hinge on how well it can translate local creativity into global relevance and build a creative economy resilient enough to thrive in an AI-shaped world.