Create In India: The WAVES of a Creative Future

By Pickle April 3, 2025

Big ideas, bigger WAVES—India’s creative economy surges forward with a global platform at WAVES 2025!

By Biren Ghose

India is on the brink of a creative renaissance. The launch of a national campaign, “Create in India”, by the Indian Prime Minister marks a historic moment, designed to elevate the country’s creative technology industries to global heights. It is a call to action for storytellers, designers, performers, animators, technologists, and visionaries to come together and shape a new era of entertainment expression and experience.

At the heart of this movement is WAVES (World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit), set to take place from May 1 to 1–4, 2025, at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai.

As the name suggests, this shall be the annual “high tide” for the cultural and creative industry.

A Movement in Motion

WAVES is more than an acronym. It’s a living metaphor. Just as ocean waves are created by the transfer of wind energy to water, WAVES is powered by the transfer of creative energy from imagination to execution. The campaign embodies the belief that storytelling, design, media, and performance can ripple outward, shifting perceptions, inspiring change, and generating lasting cultural impact.

“Create in India” represents a powerful partnership between government and industry — united in their vision to lead the next global creative technologies.

The campaign positions creativity not just as an artistic pursuit but as a vital economic driver, a diplomatic soft power, and a key to the future leveraging India’s creative talent and reaping the demographic dividend.

A Collaborative Platform for the Creative Economy

Aligning with PM Narendra Modi’s vision of showcasing India’s creative strength on the global stage, WAVES is set to make its grand entry at the Jio World Centre, Mumbai, from May 1st to 4th, 2025. It will serve as a collaborative platform where global giants and creative minds from across the world will converge in India, reflecting the dynamic spirit of the nation’s creative community. Participants will engage with a diverse range of industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators, spotlighting advancements in animation, gaming, entertainment technology, and both regional and mainstream cinema.

The Science of a Storyware

Like ocean waves, creativity also has stages of evolution. WAVES is a perfect metaphor to describe the flow of Indian content:

“Capillary Waves” are the early ripples — short films, animation, VFX, music videos, game design, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, pitches for markets and creative prototypes. WAVES has been aggregating these capillaries through nationwide challenges and contests, promoted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The finalists at the event shall be those that bubble to the top from among thousands of creators who participated across the country across all facets of storytelling disciplines.
“Gravity Waves” emerge when these small ideas find momentum. At the WAVES Bazaar, creators and companies will pitch, trade, and collaborate on scaling ideas into immersive productions and globally viable IPs.
“The Wave Crest” represents the cultural peaks – success at the box office, TRPs, views and likes, etc. The majestic peak that rises to its maximum before becoming one with the universe, only to be followed by a succession of others….

The WAVES event shall be a global confluence. Its positioning is to be the “Davos of the creative sector”. Across its various offerings, producers, investors, writers, coders, animators, and technologists shall collaborate in synergistic new formats.

The Business of Creativity

WAVES is structured to drive measurable outcomes. From B2B deal-making and co-production opportunities to policy dialogues and content showcases, the summit is designed to turn creativity into commerce.

As in physics, waveforms are defined by amplitude, frequency, and reach. Similarly, in the creative realm, success is measured in impact, resonance, and global visibility.

“Create in India” provides the environment to nurture this. By fostering platforms, global market access, various funding avenues, and the opportunity to think in an atmosphere of open expression, India creates the ‘space’ for creative industries to scale with confidence.

Global Reach, Local Soul

While WAVES points to global ambition, its foundation is deeply rooted in India’s cultural wealth. The stories, myths, music, and artistry of India have always had universal resonance. What’s new is the medium: animation, XR, immersive environments, AI-generated content, gamification, virtual production and real-time, next-gen storytelling.
Each wave that crests during the summit will reflect the unique rhythm of Indian creativity — original, emotional, grounded, and technically world-class.

WAVES – ONE Melody, MANY Voices

This is a creative interpretation of what WAVES means to me as one that has represented the case for a global summit to the Central Government for many years.

(Biren Ghose is Chairman of the CII National Committee for AVGC XR and Managing Director – Asia Pacific, Technicolor Group.)