India marked a major milestone in its creative economy journey with the successful hosting of WAVES 2025, the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit, positioning the country as a global hub for media, entertainment, and creative technologies. Organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the summit witnessed participation from over 90 countries, reflecting unprecedented international engagement with India’s rapidly expanding creative ecosystem.
WAVES 2025 drew more than 10,000 delegates, over 1,000 creators, 300 companies and 350 startups, with an overall footfall of nearly one lakh visitors. The event brought together stakeholders from broadcasting, films, digital media, AVGC XR, gaming, animation, music and emerging immersive technologies, reinforcing India’s growing stature in the global content and innovation landscape.
The summit was anchored around the vision of “Create in India Create for the World,” underlining India’s intent to become both a creator and exporter of high-value creative content. WAVES was described as a platform that seamlessly blended culture, creativity, technology and entrepreneurship, enabling collaboration across borders and disciplines.
A key pillar of WAVES 2025 was CreatoSphere and the Create in India Challenges, which emerged as one of the world’s largest creator-led movements. The initiative attracted more than one lakh entries from India and over 60 countries across 33 categories. Over 750 finalists showcased their work across eight creative zones at the summit, spanning film, VFX, animation, gaming, comics, music, broadcasting and digital storytelling. Many of the winners subsequently represented India at major international platforms including Melbourne, Toronto, Tokyo, Osaka and Madrid, leading to global exposure, collaborations and commercial opportunities.
Another major highlight was WaveX, a next-generation platform designed to nurture startups in the media and entertainment sector. WaveX supported more than 200 startups, enabled over 30 startups to pitch to global technology leaders, and facilitated nearly 100 startup showcases. Several WaveX-supported startups gained national recognition, including participation on prime-time investment platforms. The initiative also launched innovation challenges focused on artificial intelligence-driven content creation and real-time language translation, encouraging technology-led solutions aligned with India’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
WAVES Bazaar emerged as a one-stop global marketplace connecting Indian creators with international buyers, investors and collaborators. Through curated B2B meetings, co-production discussions and global festival participation, WAVES Bazaar generated potential business and investment discussions worth approximately ₹4,334 crore. The platform facilitated over 9,000 structured B2B meetings, led to multiple memorandums of understanding and launched new international creative corridors with Japan, Korea and Australia.
As part of its long-term capacity-building efforts, the government has also established the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies as a National Centre of Excellence for AVGC XR. The institute, operating on a public-private partnership model, has begun training students, incubating startups and forging partnerships with leading global technology and media companies. Its permanent campus is planned at Film City in Mumbai, aimed at creating a future-ready workforce for the creative industries.
In parallel, the Ministry has taken steps to strengthen India’s live events industry through the creation of a Live Events Development Cell, working towards streamlined approvals, single-window clearances and investor-friendly frameworks. Efforts to curb digital piracy have also been intensified through inter-ministerial coordination, enforcement measures and awareness initiatives to safeguard the creative economy.
WAVES 2025, held alongside major national and international film and media events, has reinforced India’s position as a vibrant, inclusive and innovation-driven creative powerhouse. The summit has laid the foundation for sustained global engagement, investment and talent development, firmly embedding the creative economy as a key pillar of India’s growth story in the years ahead.
