CII Big Picture Summit 2025: 'We now need to build IPL of creativity,' says Sony Pictures' Gaurav Banerjee – Storyboard18

ADVERTISEMENT
Sony Pictures Networks India MD & CEO Gaurav Banerjee called on the Indian media and entertainment industry to radically scale its global ambition and creative capacity, declaring that India must “build the IPL of creativity” to compete with the world’s leading cultural powerhouses.
Speaking at the CII Big Picture Summit 2025, Banerjee said India stands on the cusp of exponential expansion. “A phenomenal headroom to grow dramatically. A $100 billion Indian M&E industry is within reach,” he said. Yet, he noted that the industry’s potential has long been constrained by the comfort of a vast domestic market. “While Indian music tops charts in North America and films create echo far beyond our borders, our ambition has been shaped as well as limited by the comfort of a large domestic market.”
Drawing parallels with South Korea’s rise as a global cultural force, Banerjee urged India to adopt a similar boldness. “The real constraint on our growth is not the market, it is the ambition we place on ourselves,” he said.
Banerjee pointed to the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a model of how scale, structure and talent development can transform a sector overnight. Referencing Silicon Valley’s ecosystem-building approach, he said India must create a similarly powerful system for creatives. “We now need to build the IPL of creativity,” he emphasized, calling for a national framework that discovers, trains and showcases talent across every layer of the sector.
He noted that global creative economies are powered by deep investments in specialised arts education. The United States has dozens of globally recognised film, design and media schools, while China has expanded animation, gaming and digital arts programmes across more than 3,000 higher-education institutions. India, he said, has made progress with more programmes today than a decade ago—but not at the pace needed. As ambitions rise, “our capacity must grow even faster.”
Banerjee proposed establishing Centres of Excellence dedicated to writing, animation, gaming, VFX, design, post-production and creative entrepreneurship across all Indian languages. He also stressed the need for stronger industry–academia partnerships to ensure training is “practical, contemporary, immersive, and directly connected to real industry needs.”
He further recommended building regional creative clusters where talent, technology and businesses can collaborate in close proximity. With global demand for Indian storytelling rising, Banerjee said it is imperative to scale the number of world-class creators the country nurtures each year.
Touching on the role of artificial intelligence, he said AI will reshape workflows and enhance efficiency, scale and speed—but it cannot replace human imagination. “AI has the potential to improve how we work. But it will not define creativity. Human imagination will,” he said.
Banerjee’s call to action sets a sweeping vision for India’s next creative leap: a globally competitive industry built on ambition, talent, and world-class creative ecosystems.
ADVERTISEMENT
From Delhi’s sharp-tongued lyricists to Chennai’s bilingual innovators and North-East India’s experimental beatmakers, Rap 91 LIVE’s lineup was a sonic map of the country’s cultural diversity.
ADVERTISEMENT
India and Southeast Asia as growth hubs for global holding companies seeking both scale and talent depth.
ADVERTISEMENT
Digital
Why OpenAI is hiring 100 ex-bankers: Inside the ChatGPT-maker's secret project to automate Wall Street's grunt work
Agency News
Adland’s Eastward shift: India powers growth for WPP, Publicis, Havas and Omnicom amid global slowdown
Gaming
HUL’s entry into Esports opens door for FMCG majors to tap India’s expanding gaming audience
Brand Marketing
Advertising's identity crisis: Comedy agencies, meme metrics and the death of brand memory
Brand Makers
Dil Ka Jod Hai, Tootega Nahin
How it Works
Bihar Elections 2025: BJP leads political advertising with 94 percent digital share and highest TV ads
Television
Kerala TRP case: BARC India orders independent forensic audit after Malayalam channel alleges ratings manipulation
Special Coverage
Announcing Storyboard18 Awards for Creativity (SACs): A New Benchmark for Indian Advertising & Modern Brand Storytelling
Television
TDSAT orders two Delhi LCOs to pay Hathway over ₹11 lakh, return 1,279 STBs
Special Coverage
HT Media exits Chennai radio market, surrenders ‘Fever’ FM licence
Storyboard18 today has grown into the premier, multi-media destination for the news and the views that matter to the A&M community. In a short span of time, through its pioneering content and properties, Storyboard18 has become an aspiration platform where a mention matters more than the rest, setting the agenda and creating an impact for individuals, brands and businesses. Storyboard18 probes and provokes, igniting heated debates and discourse on the issues and topics that matter. Its breadth of content has grown to include trend-setting coverage of not only the advertising, marketing and media industries, but also startups, policy and tech. Storyboard18's IPs slate has grown to include marquee, aspirational properties like The Visionaries and Share The Spotlight. With its digital depth and television presence through two shows – Media Dialogues With Storyboard18 and the Storyboard18 weekend show, the brand has solidified its position as the apex platform for the A&M industry.

Partner with Us:

For sales and collaboration queries, reach out to

Have a query? Got feedback? Want to share tips or ideas? Our team would be happy to hear from you. Get in touch with us here:
Storyboard18@nw18.com

source