India’s Cultural Diplomacy In The Digital Age: OTT Platforms, AI Translation, And Soft Power

Policy Update

Riddhi Suthar

Background

In the digital age, India’s cultural diplomacy has expanded beyond conventional tools, such as yoga, film, literature, and diaspora involvement, to encompass multilingual online content ecosystems, digital streaming platforms, and translation systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Cultural outreach has become a key component of India’s soft power projection. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has highlighted the OTT sector as a growing instrument of India’s soft power and global cultural outreach.

BHASHINI (BHASha Interface for India), launched in July 2022 under Meity during Digital India Week, aims to build AI-driven multilingual internet accessibility. BHASHINI seeks to eliminate linguistic barriers in governance, education, e-commerce, and digital content distribution. The policy framework also aligns with India’s broader Digital India vision and the country’s ambition to emerge as a leader in ethical and inclusive AI systems.

Regional filmmakers and digital creators gain wider access to global markets through AI-assisted subtitling and dubbing technologies, while international audiences can engage more easily with Indian cultural content. The Oscar success of RRR’S “Naatu Naatu” and global streaming penetration demonstrated India’s increasing cultural reach beyond South Asia.

India’s diaspora population of over 32 million people globally acts as a multiplier for digital cultural diplomacy. Prasar Bharati’s WAVES OTT initiative aims to strengthen India-backed public digital broadcasting globally. Cultural exports improve tourism branding, international visibility, and geopolitical attractiveness.

Functions

India’s cultural diplomacy increasingly functions through digital scalability, technological innovation, and entertainment globalisation. OTT platforms and AI translation technologies have amplified India’s cultural visibility beyond traditional diplomatic institutions.

1. OTT Platforms as Instruments of Cultural Diplomacy:

According to industry reports by PwC and FICCI-EY, India’s OTT market was valued at approximately ₹20,000 crore (around USD 2.4 billion) in 2024 and is projected to cross ₹35,000 crore by 2027. Netflix reported that Indian films and series were among the most-watched non-English content categories globally in 2023–24.

According to Ormax Media estimates, India had nearly 125 million paid OTT subscriptions by 2025. This expansion has increased India’s ability to shape international cultural perceptions through entertainment media.

2. AI Translation and Multilingual Cultural Reach:

India’s National Language Translation Mission (NLTM), known as Bhashini, supports more than 22 scheduled Indian languages. The platform aims to enable digital services for over 1 billion Indians in local languages. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video now provide multilingual subtitles and dubbing options for most major Indian releases.

Indian content may reach wider foreign audiences as a result of AI voice synthesis and machine translation technologies, which cut localisation expenses by about 30–40%. According to NASSCOM, India’s AI industry is expected to contribute approximately USD 500 billion to the national economy by 2028. This technological growth strengthens India’s capacity to combine digital innovation with cultural diplomacy.

3. Social Media and Digital Soft Power:

India is currently one of the world’s largest social media markets. India’s digital diplomacy also functions through social media outreach, virtual campaigns, and digital cultural events. Social media influencers, film actors, chefs, yoga practitioners, musicians, and content creators now function as non-state cultural ambassadors contributing to India’s soft power ecosystem.

Government-led cultural campaigns have gained significant digital engagement. For instance, the International Day of Yoga, promoted globally by India since 2015, witnessed participation from more than 180 countries. The Ministry of External Affairs and Indian embassies increasingly use digital platforms for virtual cultural diplomacy and outreach programs.

4. Economic Contribution of India’s Cultural Industries:

India’s media and entertainment industry crossed ₹2.5 lakh crore in value in 2024, according to FICCI-EY reports. The Indian animation, VFX, and gaming industry is projected to exceed ₹50,000 crore by 2027. The export of Indian entertainment content enhances tourism and international cultural engagement. Indian cinema, music, and fashion collectively support India’s global branding strategy.

Figure 1: Expansion of India’s OTT Audience and Digital Video Consumption (2021–2025) Source: Ormax Media OTT Audience report 2025.

Performance

Digital media emerged as the largest segment, contributing nearly 32% of total media and entertainment industry revenue. India’s OTT audience reached approximately 601.2 million viewers in 2025 according to Ormax Media estimates. OTT penetration increased from 37% in 2024 to 41% in 2025. Indian films and web series have increasingly entered Netflix global rankings and international streaming charts.

The Economic Survey 2025–26 highlighted that digital media has become the “primary growth engine” of India’s entertainment economy, driven by mobile consumption and OTT-based delivery systems. The Bhashini initiative, launched under the MeitY, supported Regional cinema industries including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Marathi content to gain international audiences through subtitles and dubbing technologies. AI-driven localisation has enhanced India’s ability to distribute regional cultural content internationally.

Digital communication is being incorporated into diplomatic outreach by government ministries. Through virtual cultural festivals, digital embassy outreach, online educational and yoga initiatives, and international livestream events, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Indian embassies, ICCR, and the Ministry of AYUSH increased online cultural engagement.

India’s media and entertainment industry has experienced a “structural shift towards digital and platform-based delivery systems,” according to the Economic Survey 2025–2026. In 2024, digital media income surpassed ₹80,000 crore, video subscription revenues reached over ₹9,200 crore, and India’s animation and visual effects industry produced about ₹10,300 crore.

Impact

The rapid growth of digital streaming platforms has enabled Indian films, documentaries, and web series to reach audiences across continents without dependence on conventional distribution networks. The impact extends beyond Hindi-language productions, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, and Bengali content are now distributed globally because of AI-powered translation, dubbing, speech recognition, and multilingual communication tools.

The Economic Survey 2025–2026 recognises creativity, media, entertainment, and cultural production as vital economic sectors capable of creating jobs, tourism, urban growth, and global influence, and it relates these cultural industries to the broader “Orange Economy.” Indian content on OTT platforms functions as a form of everyday diplomacy. Popular series, films, music content, and documentaries often reach audiences that formal diplomatic initiatives cannot access, thereby creating informal channels of influence.

Nearly two-thirds of all advertising revenue comes from digital advertising, demonstrating the growing importance of digital ecosystems in India’s cultural economy. The growth of streaming services, animation, visual effects, gaming, and creator-driven content industries has strengthened India’s position as an emerging global hub for creative production.

Table 1: Economic Indicators of India’s Orange Economy and Digital Cultural Industries

Indicator	Latest available Figures
Media & Entertainment Industry size	₹2.78 trillion (2025)
Annual sector growth	9%
Digital Media revenue	₹1 trillion+
Digital Media share of total industry revenue	~32%
Animation & VFX Industry	₹10,300 crores
Video subscription revenue	₹9,200+ crores

Source: FICCI–EY, Stories, Scale and Impact: Unlocking India’s Media and Entertainment Economy (2026), EY India, pp. 4–5, available at https://www.ey.com/content/dam/ey-unified-site/ey-com/en-in/insights/media-entertainment/2026/03/ey-stories-scale-and-impact-unlocking-india-s-media-and-entertainment-economy.pdf.

Emerging Issues

Despite significant progress in leveraging digital media ecosystems for cultural diplomacy, several challenges have emerged that may constrain India’s ability to fully realise its soft-power potential.

India’s digital cultural outreach remains heavily dependent on foreign-owned platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Meta, and X. Changes in platform policies can directly affect the international reach of Indian cultural content. Unequal representation of India’s Cultural diversity is another issue where internationally successful content remains concentrated in a few dominant languages and regions. Smaller linguistic communities, tribal cultures, folk traditions, and North-Eastern cultural expressions remain underrepresented on global platforms.

Lack of institutional coordination reduces strategic coherence as Cultural diplomacy initiatives are often conducted independently by MEA, ICCR, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of AYUSH, and digital platforms. Cultural creators from underserved regions face barriers in accessing global digital markets due to the digital divide. The cultural industries and creators are also impacted by digital piracy, unapproved content distribution, and inadequate revenue streams.

Commercially successful content is given priority by recommendation algorithms, which diminishes the visibility of educational, heritage, and cultural works. India lacks a thorough framework for evaluating how digital cultural diplomacy affects tourism, soft power, international perceptions, and educational exchanges. Metrics related to viewership and audience are used extensively in current evaluations.

Way forward

Technological innovation must be balanced with cultural diversity, digital sovereignty, fair engagement, and institutional coordination to maintain long-term soft-power gains. The private sector can develop globally competitive Indian streaming platforms capable of international distribution and the government should research digital sovereignty and platform governance.

The Ministry of Culture should create dedicated funding mechanisms for regional and indigenous cultural content. While ICCR and MEA should include regional cultural productions in digital diplomacy initiatives. State Governments should also support digitization and international marketing of local cultural heritage.

Think Tanks can provide periodic evaluations of India’s digital soft-power performance and the Department of Telecommunications should accelerate universal broadband connectivity under BharatNet to bridge the digital divide. Digital Platforms should develop cultural discovery categories highlighting heritage and regional content. MEA and NITI Aayog should collaborate to develop a Digital Soft Power Index for India.

References

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About the Contributor

Riddhi Suthar is a researcher and policy enthusiast with interests in public policy, governance, international relations, maritime affairs, and strategic studies. Their work focuses on evidence-based policy analysis, geopolitical developments, and emerging global challenges, with particular attention to India’s strategic and developmental priorities. She is engaged in analytical writing, policy research, and academic discussions related to governance, security, and international affairs.

Acknowledgement

The author extends sincere gratitude to the IMPRI team for their expert guidance and constructive feedback throughout the process.

Reviewed by Shruthi Sethi and Kevin Adithya