NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan on Wednesday has urged young creators to harness artificial intelligence as a tool for innovation and empowerment.
Addressing the YouTube Impact Summit 2026, themed “Co-Creating Impact: India’s Digital Leadership and the Orange Economy”, in New Delhi, the minister highlighted the growing role of India’s digital and creative economy in driving economic growth, employment and global cultural outreach.
The Summit brought together policymakers, technology leaders, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators, with Murugan delivering the keynote address.
Calling upon young creators to “create with courage, responsibility and with purpose,” the minister emphasised that while “technology changes rapidly, constitutional values endure.”
The minister also noted that content produced in India receives over 15 per cent of its watch time from audiences outside India, while more than 18,000 Indian YouTube channels have crossed one million subscribers.
According to the YouTube Impact Report unveiled at the Summit, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed more than Rs 18,000 crore to India’s GDP in 2025 and supported over 9.6 lakh full-time-equivalent jobs across the country.
The Summit highlighted the growing role of India’s digital and creative industries in advancing Viksit Bharat 2047, with the minister calling for collective efforts to build an inclusive and globally competitive creative ecosystem. He said digital technology has changed the geography of opportunity, enabling talent from every district, language and community to reach global audiences.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Create in India, Create for the World,” the minister also spoke about the Orange Economy’s three pillars: content, creativity and culture.
He said that creativity extends beyond entertainment and could generate jobs, businesses, intellectual property, exports and cultural influence.
Murugan also said that AI can assist creators in writing, translation, editing, animation, composition, design and distribution, while human imagination remains central to creativity. He reiterated that AI should empower creators rather than replace them, while stressing the need for accessible, responsible and ethical use of emerging technologies.
The Summit also featured the unveiling of “Create with AI” films, developed in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT).
Underlining the provision in the Union Budget 2026–27 for AVGC content-creator laboratories in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, the minister noted that the industry is projected to require nearly 2 million professionals by 2030.
The minister said that India’s cultural heritage could reach new audiences through cinema, music, gaming, animation, digital storytelling, design, crafts and literature. Addressing young creators, he said their language, culture and stories can be global and urged them to create with confidence in India’s diversity.
The minister further said that the future of India’s digital economy will depend on what the country creates with technology, stressing the importance of employment, intellectual property, global opportunities and inclusive growth towards Viksit Bharat 2047.
