Cheap data and smartphones turned India into one of the world's biggest audiences for online content and games. What began as an entertainment boom is now a policy priority — a 'Create in India' push to build a home-grown creative and gaming industry.
Creative Economy · AVGC
Creative Economy · AVGC
India's creative economy — film, animation, VFX, gaming and comics (AVGC) — is booming, powered by cheap data and a young, online population. Online gamers alone grew from a few crore to around 48 crore, and India's gaming market is worth over ₹23,000 crore. A 'Create in India' push, an AVGC-XR policy and creator labs aim to make India a global content and gaming hub. The counter shows India's online gamers (indicative).
48 cr
Online gamers (indicative)
₹23,000 cr+
Gaming market
Create
'Create in India' · AVGC-XR
Online gamers
| Year | Online gamers |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 2 crore |
| 2015 | 5 crore |
| 2016 | 12 crore |
| 2017 | 18 crore |
| 2018 | 25 crore |
| 2019 | 30 crore |
| 2020 | 36 crore |
| 2021 | 40 crore |
| 2022 | 43 crore |
| 2023 | 46 crore |
| 2024 | 48 crore |
| 2025 | 52 crore |
2014
0crore
Online gamers
20142025
Since 2014
Added
+50 crore
2014
2 crore
2025
52 crore
Why it matters The creative economy creates jobs for a young, digital generation and projects India's culture and soft power onto the world's screens.
- Online gamers ~2 cr → ~48 cr (indicative); gaming ₹23,000 cr+
- 'Create in India'; AVGC-XR policy & creator labs
- Source: MIB / industry (indicative)
History
Create in India
India's gaming market crossed ₹23,000 crore with around 48 crore gamers, and the media & entertainment industry is worth over ₹2 lakh crore. An AVGC-XR policy, creator labs, and rules for online gaming aim to make India a global content, animation and gaming hub.
How it works
AVGC — Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics (plus extended reality) — is the fast-growing digital side of India's creative economy. India already does huge volumes of VFX and animation work for global studios, much like IT services did for software. Policy now aims to move up from being a back-end vendor to creating original Indian IP — through a National Centre of Excellence, skilling, and promotion under the 'Create in India' banner and the new WAVES summit.
Outlook
India's media and entertainment sector is worth tens of billions of dollars, and AVGC is its fastest-growing slice, powered by cheap data, a young audience and world-class technical talent. The next step is capturing more of the value — moving from doing other countries' effects to owning globally successful Indian characters, games and films, building studios and IP at home, and turning India's storytelling heritage into a genuine creative-export powerhouse.
The road ahead
The next step is capturing more of the value at home — building world-class IP, studios and skills, and sensible rules for real-money gaming. (Figures here are indicative.)
By the numbers
Online gamers ~2 → ~48 crore (indicative); gaming ₹23,000 cr+; M&E ₹2 lakh cr+; Create in India / AVGC-XR. Source: MIB / industry.
Source: MIB / industry estimates — online gamers in India (crore), indicative, 2014–2025.