Synopsis

India could emerge as a global content production hub by combining its growing AI capabilities, creative talent and expanding media global capability centres, industry experts said. The opportunity goes beyond traditional strengths such as VFX and outsourcing, with AI potentially enabling large-scale content production for global studios, streaming platforms and brands. Government initiatives including WAVES, WAVES Bazaar and Create in India Challenges are seeking to connect Indian creators with global markets, while investments in animation, VFX, gaming and comics are expanding the talent base beyond major cities.

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Mumbai: India’s growing capabilities in artificial intelligence, creative talent pool and expanding media capability centres could position the country as a global content production hub, according to industry experts.

The opportunity extends beyond visual effects where India has traditionally been strong as well as outsourcing, with AI-enabled production potentially allowing the country to create content at scale for international studios, streaming platforms and brands.

Government initiatives such as WAVES, WAVES Bazaar and Create in India Challenges aim to connect Indian creators with global markets, investors and producers. Talent from tier-II and tier-III cities, alongside investments in animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC), is strengthening the foundation for a scalable content ecosystem.

“India has a huge opportunity to become the world’s content creation hub, given its young population, AI talent, creative capabilities, access to technology and cost arbitrage. While VFX is one opportunity, the potential extends to global capability centres producing content at scale for major studios and brands,” said Chandrashekar Mantha, partner and media and entertainment sector leader at Deloitte India.

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“India’s diversity is a critical strength, with talent increasingly emerging from tier-II and tier-III cities. Governments are also focusing on AVGC education and talent development. A lot of foundational work has started, and if it fructifies in the right way, India has significant potential to become the content hub for the world,” he said.

The government is also working on an integrated National AVGC-XR Mission/Policy to establish objectives, measurable outcomes, institutional mechanisms and a funding framework for the sector, according to a recent report of the Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology.

The proposed policy aims to strengthen the creative economy through industry-aligned skilling, incentives for original content and intellectual property creation, startup incubation and greater participation in global markets and co-production platforms, the report said.

Minister of state for information and broadcasting L Murugan said in the Lok Sabha in April that the government was promoting the media and entertainment sector as part of its vision to strengthen the orange economy and position India as a global content creation hub.

Under the union budget 2026-27 proposals, the government announced AVGC content creator labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, with an allocation of Rs 250 crore. The central and Maharashtra governments, together with industry bodies CII and Ficci, have established the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), which opened its campus in Mumbai last year.

IICT chief executive Vishwas Deoskar said India’s ability to combine creativity with technology would be key to meeting global requirements. “India’s students are well-poised to adopt technology. The key is to embed creativity into technological requirements so that storytelling is translated effectively onto the storyboard and delivers the right frame value,” he said.

Deoskar said global media companies, including Netflix, Warner and Amazon, were establishing capability centres in India because of its creative and technological talent.

The global media and entertainment market is worth $3.3 trillion, while India’s share is 1.3%, he noted.

According to an EY report, India hosts nearly 50 media and entertainment global capability centres in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bengaluru. These centres support production, post-production, localisation, analytics and advertising for their parent organisations.

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