Gaurav Banerjee, Managing Director and CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), has delivered the keynote address at FICCI Frames 2025, where he has called for the creation of a “Silicon Valley of creativity” in India.
Speaking on the theme ‘Regulating the Orange Economy: Our Creative Universe’, he said that while India’s media and entertainment sector is valued at nearly $30 billion and contributes around 0.7% of the GDP, much of this growth has been driven by domestic demand.
Banerjee has questioned what it would take for India to produce “the Airtel or IPL of the entertainment world, something truly global in quality and scale but birthed in India, anchored in our stories.” He has noted that the last major wave of creative innovation in India came over a decade ago, citing Kaun Banega Crorepati, the IPL, and pan-India content like Satyamev Jayate, Anupama, and Baahubali as key milestones. “We don’t have to wait decades for the next Lagaan or Baahubali. It should be happening every year,” he has said.
Drawing parallels with India’s cricket ecosystem, Banerjee has emphasised the need to aggregate human capital and build a structured talent pipeline. “This is the kind of ecosystem we need that will reach the most rooted, most authentic storytellers, and enable them to craft stories which are good enough for the world,” he has added. He has pointed to the Indian Premier League as an example of how systematic scouting and investment can nurture world-class talent, calling for a similar framework within the creative industries.
Banerjee has also highlighted the Malayalam film industry as a thriving example of homegrown excellence, referencing Lokah Chapter One, Aavesham, 2018, and Manjummel Boys as recent successes. He has said that such examples demonstrate what can happen “when the right ecosystem of talent and investment comes together.”
Stressing on the need for collaboration between academia and industry, Banerjee has remarked, “If there is a Stanford University, that has to be built first, and Silicon Valley will follow.” He has urged the establishment of creative institutions and centres of excellence that can act as incubators for storytelling, innovation and skill-building in every major Indian language.
In his concluding remarks, Banerjee has underscored that creativity must be viewed as central to India’s growth story rather than peripheral. “Creative industries are no longer peripheral. They need to be central. They generate jobs, fuel innovation, export identity and imagination, and amplify India’s soft power,” he has said. He has called upon policymakers, media leaders, and creators “to champion this agenda, to push boldly for reform, be experimental and open-minded around regulation.”
Banerjee has ended with a call to action: “Let us together ensure that India’s creative economy does not sit at the margins of policy but stands at the very heart of our world story.”
