India must set its eyes on global influence, not domestic scale: Gaurav Banerjee

Gaurav Banerjee- MD & CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India and Chairman of the CII National Council on Media & Entertainment, opened the CII Big Picture Summit 2025 with a clear message: India’s Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry must stop measuring success only within its borders and start chasing global influence.

Banerjee said the world is consuming Indian culture faster than ever, but India must raise its creative ambition to match global benchmarks. “Why should our market be only India? Why not the world?” he asked, urging the sector to “export confidence” the way South Korea did with K-Pop, K-dramas, and films like Parasite.

He noted that India’s creative economy is at a generational inflection point — a rare moment when “talent, technology, culture, ambition and confidence align.”

Citing the CII White Paper, he said the global M&E industry is expected to touch $3.5 trillion by 2030, while India is projected to grow 2.6 times faster than the world. Yet the country holds just 2% of global value, which he framed not as a limitation but as a “phenomenal headroom” for growth.

A $100 billion Indian M&E industry, he said, is “within reach” if the sector builds ambition and coherence.

Banerjee emphasised that India’s cultural exports- music, creators, animation and films are finding audiences far beyond the country. However, he said the industry has remained too reliant on the comfort of a large domestic market. To illustrate the need for change, he pointed to the South Korean model, where government and industry built cultural content as an economic export.

He also highlighted the success of Mahavtar Narasimha- an example, he said, of audiences embracing “fresh, bold, original stories.” The real constraint, Banerjee argued, “is not the market, it is the ambition we place on ourselves.”

What India must build next

Banerjee outlined three pillars India needs to strengthen if it hopes to become a global creative powerhouse:

1. Specialised Creative Institutions

He called for Centres of Excellence in writing, animation, gaming, VFX, design, post-production and creative entrepreneurship — across all Indian languages.

2. Strong Industry–Academia Partnerships

Training must be contemporary, practical and directly aligned with industry needs, he said.

3. Regional Creative Clusters

Banerjee reiterated that global leaders invest in creative clusters where talent, creators and businesses work closely together. He referenced Silicon Valley and the IPL as examples of ecosystems that scale talent and innovation through density and structure.

“These are not gaps, they are opportunities,” he said. “Institutions build capacity. Talent builds influence.”

He also addressed the industry’s concerns and hopes around AI, calling the coming years “the AI Decade." While AI may improve efficiency and speed, he stressed that “AI will not define creativity- human imagination will.”

India’s strength, he said, lies in its people, not its tools. He urged the industry to adopt AI responsibly and ethically.

Closing his address, Banerjee said India must define success by its global imprint, not just its domestic scale.

“If we raise our ambition, build institutions with seriousness, nurture creators across languages and think boldly- India will not just grow. India will lead.”