YouTube To Invest Over INR 850 Cr In Indian Creator Ecosystem

Streaming major YouTube will invest over INR 850 Cr in India over the next two years to support local content creators, artists, and media firms, CEO Neal Mohan said today at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025.

The move is part of YouTube’s push to deepen its presence in India, which Mohan described as a “creator nation”. He said over 100 Mn Indian channels uploaded content last year, and 15,000 of them now have over 1 Mn subscribers — up from 11,000 a few months ago. Mohan also said Indian content clocked 45 Bn hours of global watch time last year. 

The streaming major’s top executive added that YouTube paid INR 21,000 Cr to Indian creators over the last three years.

India’s growing creator economy and global reach make it a top market for YouTube, he added.

“YouTube’s ability to connect a creator anywhere with audiences EVERYWHERE has made it a powerful engine of cultural export, and few nations have leveraged this as effectively as India. Today, India isn’t just a world leader for film and music – it’s rapidly becoming what I’m excited to call a Creator Nation,” Mohan added. 

Notably, India’s creator ecosystem is among the world’s fastest growing, with reportedly over 4 Mn online celebrities. This, in turn, has fostered a booming influencer-led ecommerce economy, which has 294 Mn online shoppers to cater to. Not just this, brands across sectors, from beauty to electronics, are increasingly partnering with digital creators to drive growth.

More recently, in March this year, the Centre announced the launch of a $1 Bn fund to give a boost to the creator economy. Last year in December, PM Narendra Modi also underscored the importance of the creator economy in making the country a $5 Tn economy. 

Speaking at the inauguration of WAVES 2025, PM Modi said that this is the right time to “create in India, create for the world”. 

“This is the time of dawn of orange economy in India,” the PM said, adding that content, creativity and culture are the three key pillars of this economy.

Notably, the Union cabinet greenlit a proposal for the establishment of a National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality (AVGC-XR) last year. 

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