From Content to Commerce

The real disruption of AI in India lies not in automation, but in how imagination becomes enterprise across languages and regions

- HARSHA BHARGAVI PANDIRI

"Language is not just code, It will drive the next business boom.

When business leaders discuss Artificial Intelligence (AI), the focus usually rests on productivity, automation, and cost optimisation. Yet Bharat's AI journey is unfolding along a less obvious, but potentially more powerful path. The country is deliberately aligning AI with the creative economy, positioning culture, content, education, and intellectual property as serious engines of growth. At the centre of this strategy lies a simple insight with far-reaching implications: creativity scales only when technology understands language.

Globally, the creative economy already contributes more than USD 2 trillion annually and employs nearly 50 million people, according to UN estimates. In Bharat, the opportunity is even more compelling. Government and industry assessments value the media and entertainment sector of Bharat at over ₹2.3 lakh crore, growing at double-digit rates. Add education technology, gaming, animation, digital design, advertising, publishing, cultural tourism, and creator-led enterprises, and the creative economy begins to resemble a core business sector rather than a cultural sidebar.

AI is accelerating this shift. Tasks that once required large teams for editing video, designing graphics, translating content, and generating learning material can now be performed by individuals or small firms. This compression of cost and time has a direct business outcome, i.e. creativity becomes scalable, repeatable, and monetisable.

A People-Centric AI Strategy

Bharat's approach to AI differs from that of many advanced economies. Rather than framing AI primarily as an industrial efficiency tool, the country has positioned it as a participatory national capability under Digital India. This philosophy is now formalised through the IndiaAI Mission, steered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.