More Than Just a Hobby: India's Creator Economy Reshaping the Digital Landscape

Not long ago, a career in content creation might have raised eyebrows - often dismissed as a Gen Z hobby, a side hustle, or simply not “real work.” But that perception is fast disappearing. India’s digital economy is growing at breakneck speed. If current projections hold, it’s expected to cross the $1 trillion mark by 2030. What’s driving this surge? e-commerce, fintech, digital services, and enhanced mobile connectivity. But beyond the usual suspects, a new force is emerging as a powerful driver of this transformation: India’s creator economy.

What began as a youth-driven, metro-centric trend of social media influencers is now evolving into an engine of economic influence and consumer behaviour. With an estimated 2 to 2.5 million active creators, defined as individuals with at least 1,000 followers - India’s creator ecosystem is already shaping how Indians discover, evaluate and purchase products online. These creators today influence $350–400 billion in annual consumer spending, a figure that could go beyond $1 trillion by the end of the decade. Even more striking is that only a small fraction, around 8 to 10 percent of these creators are currently fully monetized, signaling a huge untapped potential. As creators gain access to better tools, capital, and platforms, direct revenues within the ecosystem are expected to increase, from roughly $20–25 billion today to over $100 billion by 2030. In parallel, India’s overall internet economy is projected to expand more than fivefold, with e-commerce alone reaching an estimated $350–380 billion. With internet penetration and smartphone access deepening across the country, the number of online shoppers is expected to double to between 500 and 550 million, making India one of the largest digital consumer markets in the world.

This shift is not merely economic but it is deeply structural. The rise of content creation as a form of digital entrepreneurship is opening up new forms of employment and income generation across geographies and demographics. Much like India’s gig economy has enabled flexible work for millions, particularly women, content creation is also empowering individuals across Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns to build viable and independent careers. From regional language vloggers to educational content creators and fashion influencers, the new generation of digital entrepreneurs is creating livelihoods in areas once cut off from mainstream media and economic opportunity. The impact of this development extends far beyond individual creators. A parallel ecosystem has emerged around them: video editors, content strategists, brand managers, data analysts, and production crews to name a few. The creator economy is helping build new service industries and producing indirect employment across sectors. In many consumer categories like beauty, fashion, education, entertainment, creators now influence between 30 and 40 percent of all purchase decisions. As a result, the creator economy is fast becoming a core component of India’s broader digital value chain.

Recognising this potential, the Government of India has taken proactive steps to promote this sector. Earlier this year, a $1 billion Creator Economy Fund was announced to support content creators with access to capital, skill development, and global market entry. Hon’ble Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Sh. Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that the fund would help Indian creators upgrade their production quality and expand their international footprint. This move complements India’s wider digital public infrastructure journey which has laid the groundwork for scalable digital innovation. A recent report by Google, Temasek and Bain called this India’s “Digital Decade,” predicting that digital services could make up as much as 13 percent of the country’s GDP by 2030. 

However, for the creator economy to fulfil its promise, it must overcome several structural challenges. Chief among them are concerns about authenticity, attribution, and accountability. With the rise of bot-generated fake followers, inflated engagement metrics, and influencer fraud, brands and investors face increasing difficulty in assessing the real impact of creator-led campaigns. Without reliable measurement tools, marketing budgets risk being misallocated and the credibility of the entire ecosystem could be undermined. Rather than heavy-handed regulation, a “soft-touch” framework that prioritises transparency, standardisation, and self-governance could prove more effective. Lessons from India’s EdTech and fintech sectors point to the power of industry-led standard-setting and responsible innovation. What is needed now is a similar approach for influencer marketing, where creators, platforms and agencies collectively commit to fair disclosure norms, verified analytics, and data-backed campaign evaluations.

There is a need for startups to emerge and democratise access to creators at all levels by means of a performance marketing infrastructure platform designed to bring credibility and scale to creator-led commerce. There is also a need for verifying the authenticity of creator audiences, linking content directly to real-world conversions, and providing detailed analytics on return-on-investment. By turning creator campaigns from soft branding into hard, data-driven performance marketing, such platforms could play a vital role in unlocking institutional capital, brand trust, and policy support. The creator economy is India’s opportunity to build a globally relevant digital media and commerce industry, one that is rooted in its diverse languages, cultures, and communities. With the right combination of enabling policy, digital infrastructure, and trust-enhancing tools, India can lead the world in a new kind of digital economy, one that is led by creativity.

As India moves forward on its path towards a trillion-dollar digital economy, the rise of the creator economy may well prove to be its most dynamic and unique growth story. What began as a smartphone revolution is now maturing into a model of decentralised digital entrepreneurship which is capable of creating livelihoods, driving consumption, and showcasing India’s soft power to the world.