The summit marked a strategic move to assert India’s soft power as a driver of growth

The inaugural World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, held in Mumbai, was more than a celebration of India’s creative industries — it marked a pivotal moment in the nation’s cultural and economic trajectory. In his keynote address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out a compelling vision: India must harness its soft power through content, creativity, and culture to become a global leader in the Orange Economy.

WAVES 2025, a first-of-its-kind summit, brought together a vibrant mix of stakeholders-filmmakers, broadcasters, AVGC-XR professionals, digital media creators, and corporate leaders. With over 40 plenary sessions and masterclasses, the summit created a national stage to strategise how India’s booming creative ecosystem can drive economic growth and enhance India’s global reputation.

From announcing the future WAVES Awards to launching commemorative stamps honoring cinematic legends like Guru Dutt and Ritwik Ghatak, the Government signaled its intent to institutionalize and celebrate India’s creative legacy. The summit underscored that “Create in India, Create for the World” is not just a slogan but a strategic direction.

India’s soft power-rooted in storytelling, music, cinema, yoga, spirituality, cuisine, and now digital content — is arguably its most undervalued economic and diplomatic asset. Indian films are now released in over 100 countries. The world watches Indian stories with subtitles, listens to Indian music on global streaming platforms, and learns yoga in cities from Berlin to Buenos Aires. This global engagement is expanding India’s cultural footprint far beyond traditional diplomacy.

PM Modi’s articulation of content, creativity, and culture as the “three pillars of the Orange Economy” reflects a recognition that these assets can translate into real outcomes: jobs, investment, global influence, and national pride. While the potential is vast, realising it will require focused effort on several fronts. India must prioritise the development of creative infrastructure by building state-of-the-art film cities, post-production hubs, animation labs, and digital studios across the country — not just in established hubs like Mumbai or Hyderabad.

This calls for robust public-private partnerships and targeted incentives to attract global investors. Equally crucial is skill development. To meet international standards, India must train a new generation of writers, animators, VFX specialists, and digital content creators.

Encouragingly, partnerships like those announced at WAVES with the Indian Institute of Creative Technology, Adobe, and TCS Interactive are promising steps in that direction. Policy and intellectual property reforms are also necessary. Strengthening copyright laws, simplifying licensing processes, and establishing a supportive regulatory framework will empower creators and protect their work on global platforms.

Additionally, the sector needs a well-structured export ecosystem. Much like the “Make in India” initiative, the creative economy must focus on content localisation, translation services, and building international distribution channels. Finally, India must be proactive in presenting its content and creators on global platforms — through festivals, streaming services, and cultural exchanges. Both Bollywood and regional cinema should be positioned as tools of commerce and cultural diplomacy, helping India shape global narratives and perceptions.

India is already the world’s largest producer of films, and its digital ecosystem-spanning YouTube, Instagram, and OTT platforms is among the fastest growing. Companies like Adobe announcing new initiatives at WAVES reflect a growing corporate interest in India’s creativity.

Yet, despite this growth, India captures a fraction of the global entertainment market. South Korea, for instance, leveraged Hallyu (Korean Wave) to turn music, cinema, and K-dramas into a $10 billion export industry. India, with its scale and diversity, can surpass this — if it acts decisively.

WAVES 2025 has set the stage. What’s needed now is continuity. The creation of a National Council for Creative Economy, annual tracking of exports in the AVGC sector, and continued investments in festivals, awards, and global showcases can consolidate India’s position as a cultural superpower. In an age of polarisation and digital echo chambers, India’s stories of resilience, unity in diversity, and emotional depth can offer something profoundly human to the world.

India’s soft power is not just about prestige, it is an economic and strategic lever. WAVES 2025 could be remembered as the summit where India decided to move from being a content-rich nation to a content-driven global leader. The time to “Create in India, for the World” is now.