Artificial intelligence offers India a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to emerge as the global creative capital of the world, Uday Shankar, Vice-Chairman of JioStar, said while delivering a keynote address at the IndiaAI Impact Summit held today in New Delhi, highlighting how AI could transform content creation, consumer engagement and monetisation in the media and entertainment industry.

The keynote address, delivered at the IndiaAI Impact Summit, praised the vision of Narendra Modi for placing artificial intelligence at the centre of the country’s growth agenda and acknowledged the efforts of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in organising the forum. The speaker described the summit as timely, given the rapid pace at which emerging technologies are reshaping industries globally.

Reflecting on more than three decades in the media industry, the executive highlighted how technological adoption — from the introduction of personal computers in newsrooms to the launch of India’s early digital news platforms — has fundamentally transformed business operations, audience engagement and content delivery. The rapid adoption of technology, he said, has helped India evolve into one of the world’s most dynamic media markets.

Over the past 25 years, India’s media and entertainment industry has expanded dramatically, growing from a few billion dollars in value to become the world’s fifth-largest market with an economic contribution exceeding $30 billion. The country now has more than 900 television channels across multiple languages, over 210 million television households and more than 800 million video consumers, reflecting the scale and diversity of the sector.

Despite this domestic growth, the speaker noted that India has yet to establish itself as a global content powerhouse. He pointed to structural challenges such as limited capital, difficulty attracting global talent and a primarily domestic target audience. Production budgets in India remain significantly lower than those of major international studios, creating constraints on scale and global competitiveness.

He also highlighted the paradox of India’s talent ecosystem, noting that Indian artists and technicians have contributed to globally acclaimed productions such as ‘Life of Pi’, ‘Avatar’, ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Game of Thrones’, yet domestic productions often lack the financial capacity to utilise such expertise at scale.

According to the executive, artificial intelligence could help bridge this gap by reducing production costs, accelerating workflows and enabling high-quality storytelling at scale. At JioStar, AI-powered production pipelines have already demonstrated significant efficiency gains, including the creation of a large-scale live-action series that achieved global production standards within a much shorter timeframe.

Beyond content creation, AI is expected to reshape the relationship between audiences and media platforms by enabling conversational discovery, interactive storytelling and deeper regionalisation of content. It could also transform monetisation models through advanced consumer segmentation, dynamic pricing and personalised experiences, moving beyond traditional revenue streams such as subscriptions and advertising.

The address emphasised that AI-driven disruption across content, consumer experience and commerce could significantly expand India’s share of the global media market, which is projected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2029. Even a modest increase in India’s global market share could generate billions of dollars in additional economic value.

To fully leverage this opportunity, the speaker called for three key priorities — industry-wide adoption of AI technologies, large-scale development of AI-native creative talent and policy frameworks that support innovation rather than restrict it. He urged stakeholders to embrace change proactively and position India as a global hub for hybrid creative and technological expertise.

The keynote concluded by stressing that AI could level the global playing field in media and technology, shifting competitive advantage toward countries with strong cultural depth, large audiences and innovation-driven ecosystems. India, the speaker said, is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation if it moves quickly and decisively.