Budget 2026: India to establish content creator labs in schools
What's the story
In a major push for the creative industry, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced plans to establish content creator labs in schools and colleges across India. The initiative is aimed at supporting the country's growing animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVCG) sector. Sitharaman made the announcement during her Budget speech for 2026-27 on February 01.
Job creation
AVCG sector to generate 2 million jobs by 2030
Sitharaman highlighted the potential of India's AVCG sector, which is expected to generate two million jobs by 2030. She proposed supporting the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies in Mumbai to set up these content creator labs in as many as 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges across the country. The move is seen as a major step toward boosting creativity-led sectors in India.
Economic impact
Proposal in line with Economic Survey 2025-26
The proposal is in line with the Economic Survey 2025-26, which says creativity-led sectors can be major drivers of employment, urban services, and tourism. These activities, called the "Orange Economy," create value from ideas, creativity, and cultural capital rather than physical goods. The survey also identifies the concert economy as an underdeveloped but high-impact segment in India's services landscape.
Economic benefits
Concert economy can be major driver of employment
The Economic Survey notes that live entertainment generates economic value far beyond ticket sales, creating demand across hospitality, transport, logistics, advertising, security and local services. Global data shows that live music accounts for about one-third of global music revenues. In the US alone, live music generated over $130 billion in economic output and supported more than 900,000 jobs in 2019.
Tourism impact
Concerts act as short-duration tourism multipliers
The Economic Survey also highlights that concerts act as short-duration tourism multipliers, boosting spending on accommodation, food, transport and city services over brief periods. It emphasizes their labor-intensive nature with employment generated across event operations, stage management, logistics, hospitality, security and media. These sectors tend to absorb younger workers and creative professionals.
Growth potential
Urban readiness, governance key for concert economy growth
In India, the concert economy is still in its infancy but growing fast. This growth is driven by a young population, rising discretionary spending, digital ticketing platforms and improving urban infrastructure. However, the Economic Survey warns that simply scaling up won't yield economic benefits. It stresses on urban readiness and facilitative governance as key factors for unlocking this sector's potential.