MUMBAI: The inaugural day of WAVES 2025 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai sparked dynamic discussions on the future of India’s Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry through a high-profile panel titled “Indian M&E @100: Reimagining the Future of Media and Entertainment.”
The session, moderated by Vanita Kohli Khandekar, Contributing Editor at Business Standard, brought together top industry leaders to reflect on the sector’s evolution and its path toward India@2047.
Vanita Kohli Khandekar opened the session by highlighting the exponential growth of the M&E industry—from ₹500 crore in 2000 to a staggering ₹70,000 crore today. She credited landmark policy decisions such as granting industry status to filmmaking and tax exemptions for multiplexes. Kohli also raised pertinent questions around AI’s role in content monetization and the need for inclusive scaling across India’s culturally diverse audience base.
Vinit Karnik, Managing Director, GroupM, noted that 60% of advertising revenue now comes from digital platforms, signaling a major shift in content consumption and marketing. While acknowledging AI’s role, he stressed that storytelling must retain its human touch. Karnik also spotlighted Mumbai University’s new course on prompt engineering, aimed at preparing the next generation of media professionals.
Rajan Navani, Founder and CEO of JetSynthesys, envisioned a future where content delivery evolves into cross-platform, interactive experiences. He emphasized India’s small 2–3% share of the global M&E market and called for increased investments in talent and innovation to raise this figure. Navani highlighted the Global e-Cricket Premier League as an example of the emerging trend toward individualized and monetized content consumption.
Vikram Tanna, CEO of Eros Now, called for India to become a global hub for AI innovation in media. He predicted that AI will revolutionize both content creation and delivery, enabling users to become co-creators. Tanna underscored the importance of making new technologies accessible, comparing their potential reach to that of the internet itself.
The panel offered a futuristic yet grounded perspective on the industry’s growth, with key themes revolving around technology integration, policy direction, talent development, and cultural sensitivity.
The discussions set the tone for the coming days of WAVES 2025, which runs until May 4, with further sessions on global trends in the audio-visual and entertainment sectors.
