India is rapidly emerging as the world’s preferred destination for global capability centres in the media and entertainment industry, according to experts.
These centres, now increasingly referred to as media capability centres, or MCCs, are becoming the operational backbone of production, post-production, localisation, data analytics and advertising for the world’s leading media companies, they said.
According to industry stakeholders, this shift is a sign of a deeper strategic change. Media firms are no longer viewing India as a low-cost back office. Instead, they are building centres that combine creativity, technology and operations to drive innovation and capability.
According to EY’s report titled ‘A Studio Called India’, MCCs are specialised hubs that centralise and scale functions across broadcast, digital, advertising, sports, gaming and publishing. The report states that India already hosts close to 50 M&E GCCs, primarily in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bengaluru.
India’s biggest advantage is its talent base. The country has more than 100,000 creative professionals skilled in visual effects, animation, gaming, localisation and immersive media. Hundreds of media and creative institutes train talent to global standards, and the ability to produce content in eight or more widely spoken languages gives India a natural edge in localisation.
Industry benchmarks show that media companies can achieve 10% to 25% annual cost efficiencies by operating MCCs in India. Organisations that integrate MCCs with specialist partners report savings of up to 35%, driven by automation and creative technology.
Netflix has set up a new creative technology capability centre in Hyderabad, securing 41,000 sq ft in HITEC City – its second major base in India after Mumbai. In July, sports streaming platform DAZN opened a global sports technology operations centre in India with plans to invest Rs 500 crore and employ up to 3,000 professionals.
“India’s media capability centres are redefining global media operations—delivering creativity, technology and scale far beyond cost efficiency. With over 50 specialised media GCCs, and a talent pool of around 100,000 crea-tech professionals, India offers artificial intelligence (AI)-driven workflows that enable up to 50% cost efficiencies," said Ashish Pherwani, leader, media & entertainment sector, EY India.
He said global M&E leaders are consolidating operations here to leverage this unmatched expertise and robust infrastructure. "This momentum is driving investment, creating high-value jobs and positioning India as the innovation engine for global media. From immersive content and advanced VFX to cloud-based production, India is leading the transformation where technology and creativity converge," he said.
"India is transitioning from a cost-efficient service provider to a global leader in the media and creative technology space, powered by the world's largest talent pool in AI, animation, VFX and extended reality," said Rajesh Sethi, PwC India’s partner and leader for media, entertainment and sports. "While production cost advantages remain, the strategic focus has now shifted to innovation, IP creation and technological leadership in AI-driven content, metaverse development and real-time production pipelines."
Shilpa Malaiya Singhai, managing director of business transformation services at Alvarez & Marsal India, said India will soon power not just the enterprise functions of global media, but also its brain.
"MCCs are evolving into deep tech and innovation hubs --where creative talent, AI and automation converge to shape the future of entertainment worldwide. While India is powering over 1,700 GCCs today, only 2-3% cater to the media industry and that is set to change rapidly," she said. “The unique blend of creative abundance, tech & AI talent and digital infrastructure sets the stage for India to become the destination of choice for global media giants to move strategic business components from content production and processing to audience analytics and intelligence to be run from India.”
Singhai noted that the cost case is in India’s favour with 30%-40% upside in total cost of ownership across the content lifecycle. "States are also racing to attract these investments. Maharashtra's new AVGC-XR hub at Nagpur is a resounding example of policy makers establishing creative-tech clusters specific to media industry. With its talent scale, cost advantage, tech advancements and policy momentum combined, India is poised to emerge among the top three global hubs for Media worldwide," she said.
Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO, Cartoon Network and Discovery Channel, has set up its largest tech hub in Hyderabad, with product engineering as a major focus. Comcast has also shown interest in establishing a capability centre in the country.
WPP, parent of VML and Ogilvy, is expanding its newly opened Centre of Excellence campus in Chennai. Staffing was expected to increase from 330 to 650 by mid-2025, with potential to reach 2,000 to 3,000 employees. The company plans to hire 7,000 to 8,000 people in India over the next few years.
IPG Mediabrands, part of US advertising giant Interpublic Group and now merging with Omnicom, opened its largest global centre of excellence in Pune, which will eventually house 3,000 employees.
The EY report notes that YouTube manages content moderation, creator support and regional monetisation strategy from India. Prime Video uses India as a hub for dubbing, quality checks and post-production work.
Spotify’s Indian teams handle playlist curation and AI powered recommendations, while Meta uses India for content safety, AI research and video integrity operations.
WPP and GroupM run global advertising and analytics from India, and Warner Bros. Discovery uses its India hub for consumer analytics, streaming technologies and product operations.
"Government support is accelerating this trend. The ministry of information and broadcasting is positioning India as a global media hub through incentives, co-production treaties and single-window clearances. Production-linked schemes are also encouraging overseas studios to shift work to India," Sethi noted.
He also said that government support through 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) policies and production incentives have also accelerated this momentum. "This shift is generating thousands of high-value specialised jobs and is repositioning India's role in the global entertainment value chain. Institutional initiatives like the National Centre of Excellence for AVGC-XR underscores the commitment to this transformation wave," Sethi said.
According to Sethi, by fusing deep storytelling heritage along with cutting edge capabilities in cloud rendering, AI powered localisation, and interactive media, India MCCs are establishing themselves as a creative tech powerhouse that exports both original content and the enabling technologies to global markets.
These centres, now increasingly referred to as media capability centres, or MCCs, are becoming the operational backbone of production, post-production, localisation, data analytics and advertising for the world’s leading media companies, they said.
According to industry stakeholders, this shift is a sign of a deeper strategic change. Media firms are no longer viewing India as a low-cost back office. Instead, they are building centres that combine creativity, technology and operations to drive innovation and capability.
According to EY’s report titled ‘A Studio Called India’, MCCs are specialised hubs that centralise and scale functions across broadcast, digital, advertising, sports, gaming and publishing. The report states that India already hosts close to 50 M&E GCCs, primarily in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bengaluru.
India’s biggest advantage is its talent base. The country has more than 100,000 creative professionals skilled in visual effects, animation, gaming, localisation and immersive media. Hundreds of media and creative institutes train talent to global standards, and the ability to produce content in eight or more widely spoken languages gives India a natural edge in localisation.
Industry benchmarks show that media companies can achieve 10% to 25% annual cost efficiencies by operating MCCs in India. Organisations that integrate MCCs with specialist partners report savings of up to 35%, driven by automation and creative technology.
Netflix has set up a new creative technology capability centre in Hyderabad, securing 41,000 sq ft in HITEC City – its second major base in India after Mumbai. In July, sports streaming platform DAZN opened a global sports technology operations centre in India with plans to invest Rs 500 crore and employ up to 3,000 professionals.
“India’s media capability centres are redefining global media operations—delivering creativity, technology and scale far beyond cost efficiency. With over 50 specialised media GCCs, and a talent pool of around 100,000 crea-tech professionals, India offers artificial intelligence (AI)-driven workflows that enable up to 50% cost efficiencies," said Ashish Pherwani, leader, media & entertainment sector, EY India.
He said global M&E leaders are consolidating operations here to leverage this unmatched expertise and robust infrastructure. "This momentum is driving investment, creating high-value jobs and positioning India as the innovation engine for global media. From immersive content and advanced VFX to cloud-based production, India is leading the transformation where technology and creativity converge," he said.
"India is transitioning from a cost-efficient service provider to a global leader in the media and creative technology space, powered by the world's largest talent pool in AI, animation, VFX and extended reality," said Rajesh Sethi, PwC India’s partner and leader for media, entertainment and sports. "While production cost advantages remain, the strategic focus has now shifted to innovation, IP creation and technological leadership in AI-driven content, metaverse development and real-time production pipelines."
Shilpa Malaiya Singhai, managing director of business transformation services at Alvarez & Marsal India, said India will soon power not just the enterprise functions of global media, but also its brain.
"MCCs are evolving into deep tech and innovation hubs --where creative talent, AI and automation converge to shape the future of entertainment worldwide. While India is powering over 1,700 GCCs today, only 2-3% cater to the media industry and that is set to change rapidly," she said. “The unique blend of creative abundance, tech & AI talent and digital infrastructure sets the stage for India to become the destination of choice for global media giants to move strategic business components from content production and processing to audience analytics and intelligence to be run from India.”
Singhai noted that the cost case is in India’s favour with 30%-40% upside in total cost of ownership across the content lifecycle. "States are also racing to attract these investments. Maharashtra's new AVGC-XR hub at Nagpur is a resounding example of policy makers establishing creative-tech clusters specific to media industry. With its talent scale, cost advantage, tech advancements and policy momentum combined, India is poised to emerge among the top three global hubs for Media worldwide," she said.
Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO, Cartoon Network and Discovery Channel, has set up its largest tech hub in Hyderabad, with product engineering as a major focus. Comcast has also shown interest in establishing a capability centre in the country.
WPP, parent of VML and Ogilvy, is expanding its newly opened Centre of Excellence campus in Chennai. Staffing was expected to increase from 330 to 650 by mid-2025, with potential to reach 2,000 to 3,000 employees. The company plans to hire 7,000 to 8,000 people in India over the next few years.
IPG Mediabrands, part of US advertising giant Interpublic Group and now merging with Omnicom, opened its largest global centre of excellence in Pune, which will eventually house 3,000 employees.
The EY report notes that YouTube manages content moderation, creator support and regional monetisation strategy from India. Prime Video uses India as a hub for dubbing, quality checks and post-production work.
Spotify’s Indian teams handle playlist curation and AI powered recommendations, while Meta uses India for content safety, AI research and video integrity operations.
WPP and GroupM run global advertising and analytics from India, and Warner Bros. Discovery uses its India hub for consumer analytics, streaming technologies and product operations.
"Government support is accelerating this trend. The ministry of information and broadcasting is positioning India as a global media hub through incentives, co-production treaties and single-window clearances. Production-linked schemes are also encouraging overseas studios to shift work to India," Sethi noted.
He also said that government support through 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) policies and production incentives have also accelerated this momentum. "This shift is generating thousands of high-value specialised jobs and is repositioning India's role in the global entertainment value chain. Institutional initiatives like the National Centre of Excellence for AVGC-XR underscores the commitment to this transformation wave," Sethi said.
According to Sethi, by fusing deep storytelling heritage along with cutting edge capabilities in cloud rendering, AI powered localisation, and interactive media, India MCCs are establishing themselves as a creative tech powerhouse that exports both original content and the enabling technologies to global markets.
You may also like
Royal Family RECAP: Meghan Markle savagely mocked after latest Christmas announcement
England ready to copy Mikel Arteta Arsenal tactics to win 2026 World Cup
Ladakh airbase close to China border activated
Delhi Car Blast: Police visit Gautampuri, search for Dr. Umar Un Nabi
Assam CM presents insurance-benefits cheques to nominees of govt employees
