IndiaPosted at: Oct 15 2026 6:55PM


India must create globally competitive media companies, not just serve as content market: I&B Secretary

New Delhi, Oct 15 (UNI) India must move beyond being a large global market for media and entertainment content to building globally competitive companies driven by original intellectual property, sustainable business models and international expansion, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Chanchal Kumar said on Thursday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day CII Big Picture Summit 2026 in Mumbai, Kumar said India must leverage its rich storytelling traditions, cultural diversity and creative talent to generate long-term economic and cultural value and emerge as a global hub for creative content, technology and talent.
The summit, themed “The New Economics of Media and Entertainment: Building India’s Future Global Media Companies”, focused on the need to strengthen the business foundations of India's rapidly evolving media and entertainment industry.
Kumar linked the sector's growth ambitions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of “Create In India, create For The World”, articulated at WAVES 2025, and stressed the importance of combining innovation with trust.
Highlighting government initiatives aimed at strengthening the creative economy, he referred to the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES), WAVES Bazaar, the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and India Cine Hub.
He also underscored the need for a robust anti-piracy framework to safeguard creative work and intellectual property, outlining the broader ambition: “Create in India. Own in India. Scale from India. Take it to the world.”
The summit also saw the release of a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) white paper, The New Economics of Media & Entertainment, which sets out a roadmap for expanding India's media and entertainment sector to $100 billion by the early 2030s.
The paper calls for faster policy reforms, stronger regional markets and measurable implementation mechanisms to unlock the industry's growth potential and help Indian media companies compete more effectively in international markets.
Gaurav Banerjee, Summit Chair and Managing Director and CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India, called for a fundamental reassessment of prevailing business models, stressing that audience size alone could not guarantee commercial success.
“A large audience is, finally, just a starting point. It is not a business model,” Banerjee said, emphasising the need to deliver greater value to audiences, demonstrate measurable outcomes for advertisers and ensure sustainable returns for investors.
Gunjan Soni, Summit Co-Chair and Country Managing Director of YouTube India, described creativity and culture as important economic assets that could support India's ambition of becoming a developed nation under the Viksit Bharat vision.
She said digital technologies and artificial intelligence could empower a new generation of creators to transform their ideas and local identities into world-class enterprises.
Rajan Navani, Summit Co-Chair and Managing Director and CEO of JetSynthesys, highlighted the growing role of accessible technology and AI in enabling innovation. He said AI was rapidly narrowing the gap between human imagination and the ability to translate ideas into reality.
Separately, Kumar inaugurated the WAVES Global Investor and Investee Meet, which brought together more than 150 investors and investees to strengthen investment opportunities in the creative economy.
The initiative also connected nearly 20 participants from WaveX and WAVES Bazaar, seeking to build stronger links between capital providers and emerging creative businesses.
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