WAVES 2025 concluded on a high note, cementing India’s emergence as a global powerhouse in the creative economy.
Mumbai: The debut edition of the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES 2025) concluded on a high note, cementing India’s emergence as a global powerhouse in the creative economy.
Held at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre, the four-day summit witnessed a dynamic convergence of business, culture, technology, and policy. The event facilitated Rs 1,328 crore in business deals through the WAVES Bazaar, while the Government of Maharashtra signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 8,000 crore with top educational and corporate institutions in the Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector.
Of the total business transacted, a staggering Rs 971 crore came from over 3,000 B2B meetings held during the Buyer-Seller Market—a key highlight of the WAVES Bazaar.
Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hailed WAVES as the beginning of India’s “Orange Economy,” the summit brought together more than 100 international speakers, 140+ sessions, and thousands of participants across exhibitions, panels, and forums. The Prime Minister called upon global investors to harness Indian talent and encouraged Indian youth to lead a storytelling revolution reflective of a billion voices.
Marketplace Momentum & Global Collaborations
The WAVES Bazaar was abuzz with deal-making across sectors like film, VFX, animation, music, and radio. The Rs 971 crore generated from B2B interactions formed the backbone of the Rs 1,328 crore total.
Key global announcements included Indo-UK and Indo-Russian co-productions, a landmark multi-year Korean content deal between Prime Video and CJ ENM, and the launch of an Indian Film Festival in New Zealand.
Adding further momentum, the Maharashtra government signed MoUs worth Rs 8,000 crore. These included Rs 1,500 crore each with the University of York and the University of Western Australia, and significant partnerships with Prime Focus (Rs 3,000 crore) and Godrej (Rs 2,000 crore).
Startups, Investment, and Policy Backbone
Startups were front and centre at WAVES. The WAVEX Accelerator attracted over 1,000 applications and sparked investment discussions worth Rs 50 crore. Investors such as Lumikai, Jio, and WarmUp Ventures expressed strong interest in innovative ideas emerging from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. Plans for creative incubators and mentorship programs were also announced, aimed at nurturing the next wave of content entrepreneurs.
On the policy front, India unveiled five key knowledge reports. Highlights included BCG’s From Content to Commerce, which pegged the creator economy’s annual influence at $350 billion, and EY’s A Studio Called India, positioning the country as a cost-efficient global content hub. The announcement of the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT), envisioned as the “IIT of M&E education,” came with partnerships from Meta, Adobe, Google, and Microsoft.
Global Dialogue and National Vision
The Global Media Dialogue concluded with a strong international mandate, as 77 nations signed the WAVES Declaration, committing to bridge the digital divide and promote global peace through storytelling. Indian ministers like S. Jaishankar and Ashwini Vaishnaw underscored the importance of co-productions, youth skill development, and technology integration in content creation.
India’s cultural and technological prowess was showcased at the Bharat Pavilion’s “From Kala to Code” experience and the Create in India Challenge, which featured 750+ creators from 60 countries. The summit also hosted the 8th National Community Radio Sammelan, celebrating innovation in grassroots media.
Unprecedented Scale and Star Power
Covering a wide spectrum—from Broadcasting and Infotainment to AVGC-XR, Digital Media, and Film—the maiden WAVES summit featured over 140 sessions across eight halls. With main venues accommodating 1,000+ attendees and breakout spaces hosting between 75 and 150 participants, several sessions recorded full capacity.
The Plenary Sessions featured more than 50 keynotes by industry titans such as Mukesh Ambani, Ted Sarandos, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Neal Mohan, Shantanu Narayen, Mark Read, Adam Mosseri, and Nita Ambani. Their insights shaped forward-looking conversations on digital disruption, advertising, and the evolution of entertainment.
Cinema legends including Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Hema Malini, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Allu Arjun, Nagarjuna, and Shekhar Kapur—many serving on the WAVES Advisory Board—shared deep insights on the future of filmmaking in an era of AI and virtual production.
Skill-Building & Immersive Learning
WAVES 2025 offered 40 masterclasses designed for hands-on learning. Highlights included The Art of Acting by Aamir Khan, Craft of Direction by Farhan Akhtar, and Insights into Filmmaking by Michael Lehmann. Other sessions ranged from behind-the-scenes storytelling (The Making of Panchayat by Amazon Prime) to cutting-edge skills like AR lens design, AI avatar creation, and generative AI in game development.
Fifty-five breakout sessions further deepened the dialogue, exploring themes like OTT, AI, music, live events, comics, and virtual production. These forums featured experts from leading organizations such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Snap, Spotify, Netflix, NVIDIA, and DNEG, alongside key industry bodies like FICCI, CII, and IMI.