Across India, creativity is no longer confined to studios or stages. It’s showing up on phone screens, in classrooms, and in small home setups — where young people are quietly turning ideas into income and culture into careers.
India is home to over 100 million digital content creators, making it one of the largest creator ecosystems in the world — from vloggers and artists to gaming designers and storytellers.
Behind these numbers lies a deeper trend: Indian youth are not just consuming digital content — they are creating it, shaping culture, influencing commerce, and building careers around it. This momentum is happening alongside another remarkable fact: roughly 65% of India’s population is under the age of 35 — a demographic strength unmatched by most large economies.
With nearly two-thirds of India under 35, a digitally native generation is reshaping work through creative, new-age careers.. Photograph: (Unsplash)
So when the 2026 Union Budget placed a spotlight on something called the “Orange Economy,” it was far from a trivial mention. It marked a strategic shift in how India views creativity — not as a hobby or side hustle, but as a central driver of economic growth and future jobs.
What is the Orange Economy?
The Orange Economy, also known as the creative economy, refers to industries where ideas, creativity, cultural expression, and technology are the core sources of value, not physical goods.
It includes sectors such as:
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Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comics (AVGC)
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Film, music, and digital storytelling
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Design, fashion, and advertising
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Publishing and software tools that help creators produce and distribute content
Unlike traditional manufacturing or resource-based industries, the Orange Economy earns from intellectual property, digital content, and cultural capital — making it especially suited to a digital-first world.
This concept, initially coined to describe how culture and creativity fuel economic value, resonates strongly in India’s context because it connects heritage, storytelling, technology and youth talent into a unified economic strategy.
From animation and gaming to design and digital storytelling, the Orange Economy brings culture, creativity and technology together Photograph: (X/Jio News)
Content creation as a mainstream career path
India’s demographic advantage is real: nearly two-thirds of its population is under 35 years old. This means a huge talent pool, a digitally native audience, and millions entering the job market each year — a dynamic that traditional industries cannot alone absorb.
At the same time, digital platforms and affordable internet have turned content creation into a credible, mainstream career path. Today, India’s creator ecosystem spans social influencers, animators, designers, digital storytellers and niche specialists, many monetising skills across platforms.
This shift isn’t limited to social media fame. It extends to formal industries, like gaming art, film VFX, and immersive media, where India already plays a global role as a talent hub.
What Budget 2026 has put on the table
In the 2026–27 Union Budget, the government explicitly backed the Orange Economy as a priority for skilling, jobs and growth. The major measures include:
1. AVGC content creator labs
To build skills early, the Budget proposes idea Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comics (AVGC) content creator labs in:
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15,000 secondary schools
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500 colleges across India
These labs, spearheaded by the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, are intended to equip students with world-class creative and digital skills.
2. Preparing for future jobs
The creative sector, especially AVGC, is expected to need around 2 million skilled professionals by 2030. By aligning education with industry requirements early, India can fill this talent gap and unleash a huge new employment pipeline.
3. Strengthening creative institutions
The Budget also supports expansion in design and creative education infrastructure, including proposals for a new National Institute of Design (NID) in eastern India — signalling that creative skills are now institutional priorities.
What this means: A positive shift for India’s future
The Budget’s emphasis on the Orange Economy is more than a policy label — it’s a long-term vision rooted in opportunity:
Creator labs, creative institutions and skill-building initiatives in Budget 2026 aim to prepare India’s youth for jobs in the fast-growing creative economy. Photograph: (India Today)
1. New career pathways
Young Indians can now aspire to formal careers in creative technology and digital media, areas previously informal or fragmented. Investments in education enable talent everywhere — from small towns to big cities — to enter high-growth, future-ready fields.
2. Empowering entrepreneurship
Skills in digital storytelling, design, animation and gaming don’t just lead to jobs — they lay the foundation for startups, creative enterprises and global exports. India’s cultural voice, in art and tech, can resonate worldwide.
3. Global competitiveness
As content consumption grows globally, India’s creators and studios are well-positioned to serve global markets, attract investment, and build world-class IP. This strengthens not only the domestic economy but India’s cultural footprint internationally.
4. Inclusive growth
By integrating creative education into schools and colleges nationwide, the opportunity becomes more inclusive, enabling diverse voices and talents to contribute to India’s economic future.
With Budget 2026, India has taken a bold step: creativity is now recognised as economic infrastructure. For a nation with millions of creators and a youthful population ready to innovate, this move opens doors to meaningful careers, global influence, and sustained economic growth.
The Orange Economy isn’t just a policy term — it’s a testament to youth potential, cultural strength, and India’s creative future.
