India’s latest Economic Survey and Union Budget 2026 make one thing clear: the orange economy is no longer peripheral to policy thinking. It is central to how India now frames growth, competitiveness, and soft power. This is more than symbolic recognition. It signals a structural shift; creativity is being acknowledged as capital. For years, India has spoken about creativity as heritage and identity. What is now evolving is the policy framing. Creative industries are increasingly being recognised as technology-intensive and globally tradeable sectors embedded within modern services economies, as noted in the recent government communication. This marks a decisive shift in how value creation is being understood.

The recognition and encouragement of the “orange economy” reflects the maturing structure of modern consumption. Value is increasingly driven by experience, storytelling, and intellectual property, not only by the physical product. That is why animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC), video gaming, esports, content creation, and live entertainment are emerging as scalable economic multipliers. The scale is already visible. India’s media and entertainment sector alone was valued at roughly ₹2.5 lakh crore in 2024, underscoring the sector’s growing economic depth. This is no longer an emerging story; it is an expanding one.

Budget 2026 reinforced this shift with concrete intent. The ₹250-crore allocation for talent development in AVGC-XR signals that creative capability must now be built deliberately and at scale. AVGC is no longer a niche. It is the capabilities backbone powering animation, game design, character-led IP, and immersive experiences. This policy push also places new emphasis on institutional capacity. The government’s push for the establishment of Content Creation Labs through the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies across 15,000 schools and 500 colleges signals a clear move toward building a national creative talent pipeline. The next phase of growth will depend on institutions that can tightly integrate education, industry demand, and emerging creative technologies at scale.

The orange economy scales differently compared to traditional sectors. In manufacturing, scale is built through capacity, supply chains, and logistics. In the creative economy, scale is built through repeatable capability: a talent pipeline that can deliver consistently across formats, languages, and markets. The multiplier is not only capital. It is a creative talent at national scale.

India is uniquely positioned here. We have the world’s largest youth cohort, deep cultural reservoirs, and digital distribution at scale. We are also seeing a structural shift in consumer behaviour, with experiences, fandom, and identity-led engagement becoming dominant drivers of consumption. This momentum is most evident in high-growth segments that now serve as bellwethers for the orange economy: live entertainment and video gaming.

Live events are no longer just cultural moments; they are economic engines. Large-format concerts and festivals drive spill-overs across travel, hospitality, transport, local employment, and city branding. With India’s live entertainment market already exceeding ₹100 billion, the sector is beginning to demonstrate multiplier effects well beyond ticket sales, reshaping cross-city narratives and tourism flows.

Video gaming is the other mass-scale engine. India’s video gaming market, now valued at roughly ₹23,200 crore, reflects a distinctly India-shaped consumption profile: mobile-first, powered by affordable internet access, vernacular-first, and increasingly non-metro at scale. Creators sit at the centre of this value chain, shaping discovery and engagement, and turning entertainment into a participatory ecosystem rather than a one-way broadcast model.

A recent JetSynthesys and YouGov national study of daily Indian esports players reflects how this ecosystem is already maturing. Notably, 77% of respondents said they see clear opportunities in streaming and monetisation, signalling a shift from passive consumption to livelihood creation. The same study found that 93% believe esports should be included in college and university-level sports events, highlighting strong demand for formal talent pathways.

If India is to fully capitalise on the orange economy, the focus now must shift from recognition to execution. Creative capability needs to scale in step with demand and capital must become more comfortable with long-gestation periods. IP businesses and the ecosystem must build strong trust frameworks as AI-led content creation accelerates. The next phase of growth will favour markets that can combine talent depth with institutional discipline and credible monetisation pathways.

India already has the demographic advantage, cultural depth, and digital reach to lead this shift. With policy momentum now clearly in place, the opportunity is to convert creative energy into sustained economic power. If the fundamentals continue to align, India’s next growth phase will come from not just producing at scale, but from creating and owning global IP.

(The author is chairman, JetSynthesys; and Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment. Views are personal.)