PM Modi at WAVES 2025: Urges Global Creators to Make India Their Content Hub

At the WAVES Summit 2025 held in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch to the global creative community, positioning India

May 1, 2025 - 13:57

PM Modi at WAVES 2025: Urges Global Creators to Make India Their Content Hub

At the WAVES Summit 2025 held in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch to the global creative community, positioning India as the next global content powerhouse. Addressing creators, investors, and cultural leaders from over 100 countries, PM Modi called on the world to “Create in India, Create for the World”, emphasising the country’s rising influence in the digital content and creative economy.

From animation and gaming to cinema, music, and storytelling, India, he said, is not just consuming content at scale—it is ready to become a central hub for global content production.

India’s Creative Momentum

“Today, when the world is searching for new ways of storytelling, India already has a treasure of thousands of years of stories,” PM Modi said in his keynote address.

He highlighted how Indian culture, with its rich diversity of languages, folk traditions, mythologies, and art forms, offers unparalleled creative material. But more importantly, India’s growing digital infrastructure, young talent pool, and policy support are making it an ideal base for global creators.

Modi underscored the rising global reach of Indian films and digital content, pointing to their presence in over 100 countries, with OTT platforms fueling demand for regional stories and vernacular voices.

The Rise of the Orange Economy

The Prime Minister coined this cultural and creative surge as part of India’s "Orange Economy" — a term referring to industries rooted in creativity, culture, and digital media.

He cited India’s achievements in areas such as:

Being the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem
The second-largest mobile manufacturer
A booming AVGC sector (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics)

This, combined with India’s civilizational openness to global ideas, makes it uniquely poised to serve as a creative melting pot for the world.

Create in India, Collaborate with the World

PM Modi’s message was twofold: He encouraged international creators to view India not only as a market but as a production base, and he inspired Indian artists and entrepreneurs to take their ideas global.

“To creators of the world—dream big and tell your story here. To investors—don’t just invest in platforms, invest in people. To India’s youth—tell your one billion untold stories to the world,” he urged.

A Government-Backed Creative Revolution

The government, he assured, is not a bystander. India is actively building policies and platforms to support its creative sectors:

Support for the AVGC industry
Startup India initiatives focused on creative tech
Increased focus on infrastructure for film production, digital media, and immersive storytelling

He pointed to initiatives like the Bharat Pavilion at WAVES, Deus Bazaar (a creator-investor marketplace), and the upcoming WAVES Awards, designed to become among the most prestigious in the global creative landscape.

From Mythology to Metaverse

PM Modi also emphasized that India’s strength lies in its ability to blend tradition with technology. Be it AR/VR, podcasting, reels, or AI-generated storytelling, young Indian creators are innovating across formats while remaining rooted in deep cultural narratives.

“India is a country where the past meets the future. Where Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam meets cutting-edge 3D animation. Where a grandmother’s folk tale is reimagined as a mobile game,” he said.

Creative Responsibility in a Digital Age

Beyond growth and innovation, the Prime Minister spoke about creative responsibility. He called upon the global creative community to counter divisive ideologies and preserve human sensitivity in an increasingly algorithm-driven world.

“We must ensure that humans don’t become robots. We must make them more sensitive, more aware, more connected through art, music, and storytelling.”

He said the creative sector has a responsibility to build a more thoughtful, inclusive global society, especially in times of rising polarisation and digital overload.

India’s Invitation to the World

PM Modi concluded his address by extending an open invitation to global creators:

“Make India your content hub. Collaborate with our creators. Build with our engineers. Tell stories that are local in soul, but global in spirit.”

With the WAVES Summit setting the stage, India is making a clear statement—it is not just participating in the global creative economy. It is ready to lead it.