Narendra Modi: Rallying a Global Creative Revolution at WAVES 2025

By Pickle May 2, 2025

PM Modi urges creators to prioritize emotion and intellect over technology at the WAVES summit, highlighting India’s potential in global animation and creative sectors.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the stage to inaugurate WAVES 2025 at Mumbai’s Jio World Centre, he wasn’t merely opening a summit—he was positioning India at the epicenter of a new global creative revolution. His keynote wasn’t just a speech; it was strategic soft power in motion, underlining how India, through its stories and creators, is ready to lead the world in the Orange Economy.

Modi’s address marked a clear shift in how India views and projects its creative potential. By coining the call to “Create in India, Create for the World,” he offered a differentiated vision—one rooted in cultural pride, digital ambition, and economic foresight. The Prime Minister emphasized how India’s streets, villages, rivers, and festivals hold untapped stories that global creators can bring to life, backed by India’s expanding digital infrastructure and policy push.

In PM Narendra Modi’s vision, creativity is not just art—it’s economics.

Reimagine what’s to come with this. India’s media and creative sectors are poised to contribute at least 2% to the country’s GDP, with potential to scale up to 4% in the near future. This sectirwill become a key catalyst as India marches towards becoming a $30 trillion economy.

His leadership has already catalyzed a wave: over 100,000 creators have emerged under the government’s digital initiatives, turning content creation into both a cultural and economic force. The Prime Minister’s strategy aligns storytelling with nation-building, positioning Indian creators as ambassadors of a new India that’s confident, connected, and creative.

At WAVES 2025—a massive gathering of over 15,000 participants from 100+ countries—Modi also held a high-powered roundtable with global CEOs, further underlining India’s commitment to becoming a global content hub. He also unveiled commemorative postage stamps honouring Indian cinema legends, reinforcing the message that India’s creative legacy is not only being preserved but projected outward.

PM Modi emphasized the importance of investing in people, not just platforms. He warned against potential dehumanisation resulting from technological advancements in creative industries and stressed the need to retain emotional depth and intellectual richness in expression. Modi highlighted the $430-billion global animation market, which is projected to double in the next decade, as an opportunity for India’s animation and graphics industry.

India has become a global hub for film production, digital content, gaming, fashion, and music, with many international viewers watching Indian content with subtitles, he noted. The country is also a world leader in global fintech adoption and the second-largest mobile manufacturer, showing progress in other areas such as the creative fields. Modi also highlighted the global popularity of Indian cuisine and expressed confidence in similar recognition for Indian music.

The Centre has allocated Rs 400 crore to build the first Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) in Mumbai, which will become a national hub for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality sector, he announced.

Work on the institute has already commenced, and work is being aligned with tech giants like NVIDIA, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Star India, and Adobe. Mumbai’s Film City, spread over 500 acres, is being developed into a global center for next-generation studio ecosystems, with 120 acres dedicated to a media and entertainment city focused on animation, visual effects, and gaming.

Through his keynote, Modi didn’t just inaugurate a summit; he waved in a new era—one where India’s creative energy, powered by policy and people, becomes a defining force on the world stage.