A white paper, released by the Confederation of Indian Industry – CII, has said that India needs to accelerate growth in its media and entertainment sector to roughly 15 percent annually, to reach its 100 billion dollar ambition by the early 2030s. With the current 9 percent annual growth rate, the sector would reach only about 64 billion dollars by 2033, leaving a revenue gap of USD 36 billion.
Released at the CII Big Picture Summit 2026 in Mumbai today, the white paper titled ‘The New Economics of Media & Entertainment’, lists market-led broadcasting, measurable action against piracy, and investment in regional markets and emerging businesses as immediate priorities to achieve the goal.
Speaking on the occasion, Summit Chair and MD & CEO, Sony Pictures Networks, Gaurav Banerjee said India has achieved audience scale; the next imperative is to create, capture and retain greater value from it. He added that CII is seeking greater freedom over television pricing and packaging, removal of carriage fees, restored audience measurement, and transparent standards across screens. It has further proposed reducing GST on television, OTT and music subscriptions to 5 percent, alongside proportionate regulation and industry self-regulation.
The paper states that the next phase of growth will come from new technologies and business models, including responsible AI, virtual production, connected TV and creator-led formats and from industries beyond entertainment that need Indian studios’ animation, gaming, XR and digital-mapping skills.
Considering that India has about 6.8 cinema screens per million people with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh having the lowest screen densities, CII has proposed setting up over 16 thousand screens by early 2030 while promoting regional-language content, connectivity and local creative talent.<>
