WAVES Summit 2025 to spotlight India’s creative economy as the next global growth engine

As India continues to flex its muscles as a cultural and economic powerhouse, the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 is set to bring together some of the country’s most influential voices across business, entertainment, and technology in a four-day celebration of creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Slated to be held in Mumbai from 1-4 May, the summit promises to be a bold showcase of how India is redefining global narratives—both on-screen and off it.

This year’s edition reads like a power list. Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries , will deliver the keynote address on “Building the Next Global Entertainment Revolution from India”, underscoring how India’s entertainment economy is no longer just a domestic play. After JioHotstar's merger, its success with the IPL and the acquisition of HBO's content, Ambani has signalled that storytelling is now serious business. His presence underlines how entertainment is fast becoming one of India’s biggest growth sectors—one that cuts across telecom, tech, and media.

Nita Ambani , founder and chairperson of the Reliance Foundation and director of Reliance Industries will also headline a session on “Taking Indian Culture to the World” while her role in globalising Indian art—via the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) and global partnerships indicate how soft power and storytelling are becoming core to India’s global identity push.

The scale of participation speaks to how seriously India Inc is taking entertainment and creativity as growth frontiers. Industry icons like Aman Gupta, co-founder and CMO of boAt and Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of People Group and Shaadi.com will decode “The Future of Indian Entrepreneurship” in a space now heavily intertwined with content, creator commerce and digital fame. Meanwhile, celebrities and storytellers like director SS Rajamouli, actors Anil Kapoor and Alia Bhatt —will gather for “The New Mainstream: Breaking Borders, Building Legends”—a panel likely to spotlight crossover success stories and a recalibrated sense of what mass appeal looks like.

WAVES will also bring global tech leaders to the table, including Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe, Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, and Richard G Kerris, VP of Nvidia—speaking on topics that range from design and AI to powering India’s creator economy and the future of virality. From how Gen Z consumes content to how AI is rewriting production pipelines, the conversations will go deep into where media and technology intersect.

With India’s M&E sector projected to hit ₹3 trillion in the next couple of years, expanding at CAGR of 7%, WAVES Summit 2025 arrives at a time when storytelling isn’t just cultural currency—it’s serious business.