Mukesh Ambani's 4-Point Vision to propel India’s M&E industry to $100 Billion
At WAVES 2025, Reliance Industries Chairman, Mukesh Ambani, called for investment, global ambition, global partnerships, and purpose-driven creativity to transform India into a global content powerhouse.
ADVERTISEMENT
Delivering a keynote address at the inaugural World Audio-Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES 2025), Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani called India's creative industries a 'strategic opportunity,' laying out a roadmap to grow the media and entertainment (M&E) market five-fold and make India the world’s content capital.
Speaking at the Jio World Centre, calling Mumbai the current entertainment hub of India, Ambani said that the day is not far when India will become the entertainment hub of the world.
Ambani emphasised the unique power of creative industries in shaping minds and societies. Identifying the twin forces shaping global entertainment — geo-economic realignment and technological disruption — he said. "The economic power of the global South is rising rapidly. On a parallel track, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are proving to be even more disruptive for the creative industry."
"What AI is doing to entertainment industry is hundred times more revolutionary than what cameras were in the silent period."
"India's Storytelling- Almost Unbeatable"
Ambani underscored India’s “almost unbeatable” advantages in the new entertainment order.
For Indians, he pointed out, storytelling has been a way of life since the dawn of our civilisation over 5000 years ago. According to him, India is not following the technological revolution; India is actually leading it.
"Soon our economy will become the third largest globally. This will potentially make India the world's largest M&E market. 1.4 million creators and consumers with an average age of 29, this is not just a statistic, it is a profile of a demographic, economic, and creative superpower.
India's third advantage is technology. India is not following the technological revolution in M&E, it is actually leading it. Indian VFX is now powering Hollywood blockbusters. We produce several million hours of content every year. Films, TV series, music, sports, short form, long form, live and immersive content. We are multilingual, multi-format and multi-platform by design. And what is our secret weapon? It is our world class digital infrastructure built on 5G, which will soon be elevated to 6G."
4-Point Vision to Propel India’s M&E Industry to $100 Billion
Ambani laid out a four-point vision to unlock the full potential of India’s M&E industry, urging stakeholders to seize the moment and aim for a five-fold growth to $100 billion within the next decade.
"My first action point is we must not miss this humongous opportunity that is beckoning all of us," Ambani said, reiterating the scale of growth ahead. "India's M&E industry today stands at $28 billion. We can easily grow this five times to over $100 billion in the next decade."
To achieve this, Ambani emphasised the need for concentrated investment in infrastructure, skills, and innovation.
"India should invest in state-of-the-art content clusters across India, train tens of thousands of talented young people in animation, VFX and other technologies, incentivise IP creation, AI-powered innovation and gamification, create new investment avenues, and build a regulatory environment that rewards imagination and inclusion."
His second action point focused on going global. Ambani said India must start creating content for international audiences while nurturing regional creators to reach the world stage. Drawing parallels from cinematic legends like Raj Kapoor and Satyajit Ray to modern successes like Dangal and the IPL, he said, "The global market for India's entertainment and cultural products will grow exponentially by leaps and bounds in the coming years and decades."
Ambani's third action point was about international collaboration. "We should forge partnerships and collaborations with innovative entrepreneurs, artists, and studios from around the world," he said, aligning this with the national goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi- "India should become the modern global centre for content and creativity."
The fourth and final idea was rooted in purpose. "The purpose of all we do is to build a better world for our future generations, a more harmonious world. The whole world is one family," Ambani said, referring to the G20 motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
He stressed that in a turbulent and polarised world, people crave content that brings "hope and happiness" — something India is uniquely positioned to deliver.
"This is not just an unprecedented economic and cultural opportunity. It is a strategic opportunity," he concluded.
