At the launch of the All India Initiative on Creative Economy (AIICE), Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, lauded the Indian Chamber of Commerce for creating a platform to unite India’s creative industries and collaborate on the creative economy.
Drawing from his experience with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Puri highlighted its ‘Creative Economy Outlook 2024’ report, noting that the global creative economy generates over $2 trillion annually and supports nearly 50 million jobs worldwide.
In India, Puri emphasised, “the creative industry is now a $30 billion sector, employing nearly 8% of India’s workforce.” He added that creative exports surged by 20% last year, bringing in over $11 billion, with expectations of significant growth in the coming years.
Puri pointed out that more Indians, especially the youth, find creative industries attractive. They offer both appeal and career security, which in turn boosts creative exports. He also praised Bollywood and other regional film industries as crucial components of India’s creative economy, noting Bollywood’s status as a prominent soft power export.
Addressing a gathering of influential figures from various creative industries, Puri underscored India’s rise as the “Content Capital of the World,” with over 100 million content creators in 2023. He noted that India hosts the largest and fastest-growing social media user base globally.
He also discussed the growing vibrancy of urban spaces, which has led to the creative economy flourishing beyond Tier-1 cities into Tier-2 and Tier-3 regions.
Puri highlighted the transformative impact of digitalisation and digitisation on the creative economy, particularly the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He noted that AI is increasingly used in newsrooms, with 41% of news teams using it for illustrative art, 39% for social media content, and 38% for writing and generating articles.
Reassuring creative professionals wary of AI, Puri stated, “AI is not a threat. It’s an opportunity to reduce costs, expand revenue streams, reach wider audiences, and access new markets.” He acknowledged the challenges AI presents, including misinformation, copyright, intellectual property, privacy, and market monopolisation, emphasising the need for a robust regulatory framework to address these issues.
“The government is committed to creating policies that protect intellectual property and ensure competitive markets,” Puri said.
He concluded by stressing the importance of dialogue among industry stakeholders and the government to tackle these challenges and leverage emerging technologies’ opportunities. He reiterated that forums like AIICE are vital for advancing these conversations and fostering the continued growth of the creative economy, where “the best is yet to come.”
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