Budget 2025 Expectations Live: Position India as a global hub for the ‘creative industries’
“As we approach the Union Budget 2025, there is a unique opportunity for India to position itself as a global hub for the ‘creative industries’. With a prior budgetary allocation of Rs 400 Cr to set up a National Center of Excellence, The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies on the lines of IITs and IIMs, India has shown its commitment to building world class talent for this sector in India, for India and for the world. We hope to see this sector being addressed from a long term perspective with further allocations to enable India’s movement from primarily a back end service provider to the world to actually leading through IP’s, global products and investing in innovation in new age technologies like Gen AI, AR/VR/XR, Quantum amongst others that will drive the future of the world in this sector. Content Creators and Influencers are amongst the fastest value creators especially amongst the Gen Z’s who are the future drivers of our economy both as consumers and producers. While we have served the world through our capabilities in animation and VFX and video gaming, the need is to build the world’s largest pool of interdisciplinary talent to IP led products particular in video gaming and esports, which is an established $200Bn global industry, much larger than films, music and other forms of media and entertainment put together, and growing rapidly. To evolve this into a mainstream cultural and economic force the government must prioritize extending incentives for IP creation, reducing TDS rates on digital platforms, introducing tax benefits for esports and video gaming companies.
Content creation is another area where India holds immense potential. Policies that provide grants and subsidies for creators, along with infrastructure support for production and distribution, can amplify India’s voice in the global content economy. Unlocking the potential of Bharat by strengthening digital infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, supported by initiatives like BharatNet, will empower creators from across the country to showcase their talent on the global stage.
Moreover, fostering a culture of innovation through public-private partnerships, skill development programs in game design and development, and promoting exports of video gaming IP can solidify India’s position as a leader in this space.
This budget has the opportunity to unlock the full potential of India’s creative industries including video gaming and esports (which now also has an Esports Olympics) and showcase a roadmap and commitment towards the same to attract long term global capital into this sector driving economic growth, creating jobs, and establishing India as a global leader in digital entertainment,” says Rajan Navani, Chairman of CII India @100 Council & Co-Chairman of CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment.