The government will create a billion dollar fund in collaboration with the private sector to encourage the content creator economy, information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Thursday. In addition, the Union cabinet has also sanctioned ₹391 crore to set up an Indian Institute of Creative Technologies in Mumbai, he said.
Vaishnaw made these announcements after he, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed about a hundred ambassadors and high commissioners on the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) that will be held in Mumbai from May 1 to 4.
“A billion dollar fund will be created for creator economy which will be basically for making sure that all our energetic creators, using the latest technologies today, they will be able to get access to capital and hone their skills, upgrade their production levels, and reach out to the global market,” Vaishnaw said.
This fund will be set up as a public-private partnership whose details will be shared later, he said.
To put this in perspective, in March 2024, the cabinet had approved ₹10,371.92 crore ($1.25 billion as of March 2024) for the IndiaAI Mission.
“The aim of WAVES is to create a platform distinct from film festivals that is meant only for content creators,” Vaishnaw said. He said that it is a “confluence” of media and entertainment with technology as the base where more than 100 nations will participate.
Fadnavis said that the existing infrastructure in Mumbai, including the Jio World Centre, will be used to host WAVES.
The summit will also play host to Global Media Dialogue, Vaishnaw said, where his counterparts from different countries will “exchange their views, they want to share their perspectives, they want to understand what are others’ experiences”. He did not share a specific agenda for the dialogue.
WAVES is MIB’s marquee summit for media and entertainment. World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) will take place at the Jio World Convention Centre and Jio World Gardens. It seeks to connect Indian content creators and creatives with investors, buyers and other allied stakeholders.
When it was first announced, it was to be held in Goa from November 20 to 25 in 2024. It was then postponed to February 2025 in Delhi. The idea of a world media summit was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of National Museum of Indian Cinema in January 2019.
Fadnavis said that the Maharashtra government has allocated land for the establishment of IICT in Film City, Goregaon. He said that it will function like IITs do.
“Soon, with the chief minister, the building plans of IICT, the kind of professors it will have, how it will interact with the world of media and entertainment, all of that will be done in the coming days,” Vaishnaw said.
Fadnavis explained that the focus of IICT is not just on filmmaking but on other kinds of technologies used in media and entertainment. He said that these days, post-production, which uses multiple technologies, accounts for eighty per cent of all film production.