Create in India, create for world, says Modi

“From more than 100 countries, artists, innovators, creators, policy makers and stars have gathered in Mumbai. Every creator, artist, youngster and person with an idea can open up a new creative world,” the Prime Minister said at the inauguration ceremony of World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 in Mumbai. WAVES, a four-day summit, was aimed to establish India as a creative hub and showcase India’s media and entertainment to the world.

“India is emerging as a global hub for film production, digital content, gaming, fashion, music and live concerts...This is the dawn of the Orange Economy in India.”

Speaking to an audience of more than 10,000 delegates, he said, “This is the time of the orange economy in India. Content, Creativity and Culture are the three pillars of the orange economy.” He further said that this is the right time for India to showcase its storytelling prowess to the world under the vision of “Create in India, Create for the World.”

“Indian cinema has successfully taken the country’s culture to every corner of the world in the last one century. Today a large number of foreign viewers are watching Indian content with subtitles. The OTT industry in India has shown 10 times growth in the last few years. The screen size may be getting smaller, but the scope is infinite. The screen is becoming micro but the message is becoming mega. Nowadays, Indian food is becoming the world’s choice. I am confident that in the coming days, India’s songs will also become a global identity,” said Modi.

Commemorating the legacies of iconic South Indian actress P. Bhanumathi, Hindi filmmaker Guru Dutt, director Raj Khosla, filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak and music composer Salil Chowdhury, Modi released their postage stamps.

Grand daughters of Bhanumathi and Guru Dutt, along with daughters of Raj Khosla and Salil Chowdhury joined the Prime Minister during the release of the postage stamps.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the government will soon bring a new “Indian Institute of Creative Technology” (IICT) in Mumbai. He further said that tech giants like NVIDIA, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Adobe will collaborate with the government to make IICT a world-class institution.

Speaking at the inaugural session, chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani projected that India’s media and entertainment industry, currently valued at $28 billion, could grow more than threefold to over $100 billion within the next decade.

Reframing entertainment as ‘real power’ rather than just soft power, Ambani pointed to India’s 5,000-year-old storytelling legacy – from the epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata to rich regional folklore. “No country can rival India’s narrative depth,” he asserted, urging creators to take these stories worldwide to bridge cultural divides.