The premier edition of World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 concluded on a high note yesterday in Mumbai, registering an overwhelming response from exhibitors, domestic and global industry leaders, start-ups, policymakers, academia and the general public, not to forget the high glam quotient.

The summit, according to the government that had conceptualised the four-day event, emerged as a key convergence point for the media and entertainment ecosystem, drawing participation from every segment of the industry.

With a vibrant mix of exhibitions, panel discussions, and B2B collaborations, the event witnessed a remarkable turnout and reaffirmed India’s position as a rising global powerhouse of media and entertainment.

The celebration of creativity, technology, and storytelling began with the inauguration of its maiden edition by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a star-studded event held in the Jio World Convention Centre.

He called upon the creators of the world to dream big and tell their stories; to the investors to invest not just in platforms, but in people and to the Indian youth to tell their one billion untold stories to the world. Declaring WAVES as the dawn of India’s Orange Economy, he urged the youth to lead this creative surge and make India a global creative hub.

Taking forward the vision of the Prime Minister, WAVES 2025 acted as a platform for high-level exchange of ideas, skills, and sectoral insights. The Conference Track served as a vital forum for dialogue and collaboration, bringing together thought leaders, industry pioneers, policymakers, and professionals from across the globe.

Through a carefully curated series of plenary sessions, breakout discussions, and master classes, the summit explored the latest innovations and emerging strategies shaping the future of the media & entertainment industry. The sessions enabled meaningful exchange of ideas, cutting across domains and specialisations.

With more than 140 sessions featuring more than 100 international speakers, spread across three main halls (each accommodating over 1,000 participants) and five additional halls with capacities ranging from 75 to 150, the summit maintained overwhelming attendance levels, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a media statement yesterday after the conclusion.

The plenary sessions featured over 50 keynote addresses by eminent personalities such as Mukesh Ambani, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, WPP CEO Mark Read, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Nita Ambani.

Their insights offered compelling perspectives on the evolving entertainment industry, advertising landscape, and digital transformation. Film icons including Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Hema Malini, Akshay Kumar, Nagarjuna, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor, Allu Arjun, and Shekhar Kapur, many of whom were also members of the WAVES Advisory Board, engaged in thought-provoking conversations on the future of cinema and content creation in the age of virtual production and artificial intelligence.

The 40 masterclasses at WAVES 2025 were designed to offer practical learning and creative exploration. Participants gained direct exposure to industry techniques through sessions such as The Art of Acting by Aamir Khan, Craft of Direction by Farhan Akhtar and Insights into Filmmaking by Michael Lehmann.

Other sessions explored behind-the-scenes narratives like the making of ‘Panchayat’ by Amazon Prime, designing AR lenses, creating AI avatars, and developing games using generative AI. These sessions provided professionals and aspiring creators with actionable knowledge and tools to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving creative economy.

WAVES also featured 55 breakout sessions, which provided a platform for in-depth discussions on specialised themes such as broadcasting, digital media, OTT, AI, music, news, live events, AVGC-XR and filmmaking.

These interactive sessions brought together senior professionals from leading companies, including Meta, Google, Amazon, X, Snap, Spotify, DNEG, Netflix, and NVIDIA, along with representatives from industry bodies such as FICCI, CII, and IMI. Designed to encourage sector-specific insights and collaboration, the discussions addressed critical challenges and charted new directions for growth and innovation.

According to the government, WAVES Bazaar garnered Rs 1328 crore in business deals, while the Government of Maharashtra signed MoUs worth Rs 8000 crores in the M&E sector.

The inaugural edition of WAVES Bazaar, the government stated, was a resounding success as it has established itself as a premier platform for international business collaboration in the creative industries. The marketplace recorded business deals or transactions worth Rs. 1,328 crores across the film, music, radio, VFX and animation sectors. Out of the total estimated outcome, Rs. 971 crore has been from B2B meetings alone.

A key highlight of the Bazaar was the Buyer-Seller Market which witnessed over 3,000 B2B meetings. In a major achievement under international collaboration, Film India Screen Collective and Screen Canterbury NZ from New Zealand announced a collaborative proposal to launch the first-ever Indian Film Festival in New Zealand. Only Much Louder CEO Tushar Kumar and Alexander Zharov, CEO of Russian firm Gazprom Media CEO announced they were in early talks on a MoU to collaborate on cross-cultural festivals and co-produce comedy and music shows in Russia and India.

The announcement of the Prime Video and CJ ENMon a multi-year collaboration was another highlight of the Bazaar as the strategic partnership was unveiled to distribute premium Korean content globally. The other milestones include the announcement of the film ‘Devi Chowdhurani’, which became India’s first official Indo-UK co-production, and the film ‘Violated’ which will be a co-production of Fusion Flicks from the UK and JVD Films.

The Global Media Dialogue 2025, held during WAVES 2025 in Mumbai, was a landmark event with participation from 77 nations, underscoring India’s pivotal role in the global media and entertainment arena. The dialogue highlighted the power of international collaborations in fostering creativity while respecting cultural sensitivities.

The member nations collectively adopted the ‘WAVES Declaration’, emphasizing the urgency of bridging the digital divide and leveraging media to promote global peace and harmony. The discussions underscored the profound role of films in uniting diverse cultures and the growing significance of individual stories in the creator economy, amplified by technological advancements.

Several knowledge reports were released at WAVES 2025. Dr. L. Murugan, Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, unveiled five pivotal reports at the WAVES Summit 2025 in Mumbai. These reports provide a comprehensive overview of India’s thriving media and entertainment ecosystem, covering key aspects like content production, policy frameworks, and live events.

WAVES also witnessed the signing of strategic MoUs with industry associations to transform the Indian Institute of Creative Technology: A National Centre of Excellence (IICT) as a world-class institution in the M&E sector.

Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who ceremonially flagged off these strategic associations, emphasized India’s potential to become a global leader in media and entertainment, stating that IICT is on track to evolve into a premier institution in its field, much like how IITs and IIMs have become benchmarks in technology and management education.

Some companies who have put up their hands for long-term collaborations with the IICT include JioStar, Adobe, Google, YouTube, Meta, Wacom, Microsoft and NVIDIA.

One of the standout highlights of WAVES 2025 was the grand culmination of the Create in India Challenge (CIC) Season 1, which drew nearly 100,000 registrations from over 60 countries.

The Bharat Pavilion, an immersive viewing zone that took visitors through the continuum of India’s storytelling traditions at WAVES 2025, received an overwhelming reception and response from the public. The Pavilion, under the theme ‘From Kala to Code’, offered a compelling narrative of India’s evolution in media and entertainment—from oral and visual traditions to cutting-edge digital innovations.