Hello, this is Priyanka Salve, writing to you from Singapore.
Welcome to the latest edition of the “Inside India“ — your destination for news and developments from the world’s fastest growing economies.
India is home to the world’s most thriving film industry. This week, industry executives told me that the adoption of AI in production is accelerating as producers seek to meet the growing demand for content in the country’s $32 billion media and entertainment industry while keeping a tight budget.
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It’s a big story
While Hollywood continues to figure out how to best use AI and debate its impact on jobs, filmmakers in India – the world’s most prosperous film industry – have taken the next step.
In October last year, JioStar, a joint venture between Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries again Walt Disneylaunched a 100-episode series that used artificial intelligence to produce a retelling of the Indian mythological epic “Mahabharat.”
The series, “Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh,” achieved 6.5 million views on its launch day, with performance exceeding the platform’s average by 2.1 times, GenAI Senior Vice President of content and technology for JioStar Stephan Bugaj told CNBC in an email.
Bugaj added that the series was never meant to be a “one-off test” of the platform and is the first step in exploring how AI can “expand the boundaries of storytelling.”
And they are not alone.
Indian production house Abundantia Entertainment is gearing up for the theatrical release of “Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal,” based on a myth about an Indian deity and described as India’s first AI-produced film by local media.
“Made in India: the story of a Titan,” a series broadcast on Amazon’s MX Player, used more than 100 AI images to recreate Mumbai in the 1970s, said Prasad Gori, an AI artist who worked on the project with his partners Anurag Tiwari and Sagar Chogale.
There has been a huge growth in AI-related manufacturing work in the last eight months, Gori said, adding that he now receives 10-15 offers for such jobs every week. Three years ago, he had to chase after manufacturing firms to find a job.
India’s media and entertainment market is estimated to be worth $32 billion by 2025 and is growing at 9%, a faster rate than the broader economy, according to a report by consulting firm Ernst & Young in March.
Generative AI tools can create films and content on a large scale at a much lower cost than traditional methods, but the real benefit is that it reduces production times, according to Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research.
“There is a huge demand for content in India,” Shah said in a phone interview, he adds that it makes “time to sell” a critical success factor.
Home pages of Chinese AI video production model Seedance 2.0 appear on mobile phones, Disney is seen in the background in this photo in Brussels, Belgium, on February 16, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Jonathan Rao Nurphoto Getty Images
Lowering barriers
AI offers filmmakers faster turnaround times and unlocks creativity at lower costs.
Manesh Muthu Swamy, founder and CEO of Indian content creation company FirstAI Consultancy, told CNBC that his team has found a new way to create an animation project using AI.
First, the team shot the content using human actors, then used AI to create animated characters based on the facial expressions of those actors, Swamy said, explaining that the technology is still unable to reproduce expressions well.
Creating such an animation from scratch would cost several million dollars with traditional tools, and more than six months to a year to produce, but with AI, it can be done for a few hundred dollars and within weeks, he said.
Across the movie studios, television networks and content production firms, AI creators CNBC spoke to used a variety of AI production tools, with Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Kling, MiniMax, Seedance and Google’s AI Studio being frequently mentioned.
Platforms like Higgsfield are also popular as they allow creators to work with multiple AI production tools.
Technology also lowers barriers to entry.
Sudharshan Srinivasan, who works as a senior producer in the Tamil film industry, has spent years hoping to direct his own film. Like many outsiders, I find it difficult to break into an industry where access to capital, stardom, and distribution often depends on relationships built over decades.
AI gave him a new route.
“AI has made filmmaking easier for small groups who struggle to find producers or investors,” Srinivasan told CNBC, adding that if he doesn’t find a backer for his film in the next two years, he plans to produce it using AI and release it digitally.
You need to know
India’s central bank downgrades growth outlook, raises inflation forecast
India’s central bank on Friday kept interest rates at 5.25% but raised inflation for the fiscal year ending March 2027 by 50 basis points to 5.1%, while lowering its forecast for economic growth to 6.6% this year, down from 6.9% previously expected.
India waives tax on foreign bond investors in bid to attract foreign investment and boost rupee
The government on Friday announced that it has exempted foreign investors and the Bank for International Settlements – a global financial institution run by major banks – from income tax on any interest or capital gains. The exemption will come into effect from 1 April 2026, according to the government.
India’s growth story is facing its toughest test till Modi’s third term
India’s growing reputation as a counter-intelligence trade, combined with the economic strain of the protracted conflict in the Middle East on the Indian economy, is leading to a record exodus of foreign investors to the country.
It’s coming
June 12: India’s CPI data for May.
June 13-18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit France and Slovakia.
