YouTube creators added Rs 18,000 crore to India's GDP in 2025, says Gunjan Soni

YouTube's creator ecosystem added more than Rs 18,000 crore to India's GDP in 2025 and supported about 9.6 lakh full-time equivalent jobs, YouTube India managing director Gunjan Soni said at the CII Big Picture Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, October 15, 2026. She also said that more than two lakh Indian channels earned their first rupee on the platform in the past year, and that artificial intelligence could add about Rs 75,000 crore to India's GDP and create more than 3.6 lakh new creative jobs by 2035.

For many young Indians, making videos is no longer only a hobby. The figures YouTube shared are a sign of how large the creator economy has become, and of how many people now earn something from it. A "full-time equivalent" job is a way of adding up part-time and full-time work into whole jobs, so the 9.6 lakh figure includes editors, scriptwriters, camera operators, managers and others who work with creators, not only people in front of the camera.

The most useful number for a beginner may be the two lakh channels that earned their first rupee in a year. It shows that new entrants are still breaking through. But a first rupee is not a living wage. Industry studies have repeatedly found that earnings are concentrated among a small number of large creators, and that most creators earn more from brand deals and other work than from platform payouts. Anyone thinking of creating content as a career should treat it like a small business: build an audience, but also plan for several income streams.

The AI projection is the other big point. Tools that help with editing, dubbing into other languages, captions and thumbnails can save creators many hours a week. That can make it easier for a single person or a small team to compete. It can also raise the bar, as more polished content floods the platforms. The projection comes from a company-backed study, so it is best read as a direction of travel rather than a forecast.

The summit itself, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, focused on the business of media and entertainment. Government speakers there urged the industry to build original intellectual property and global companies rather than act only as a large market for content made elsewhere. One concern raised in coverage is that most Indian creator businesses depend on a handful of global technology platforms for distribution and income, which leaves them exposed to changes in rules and payouts.

Short-term: The numbers are likely to encourage more brands, agencies and training institutes to invest in creators, and more students to try content creation alongside study or work.

Long-term: If the AI estimate holds, small creator teams in smaller cities and regional languages could reach national and global audiences more cheaply. At the same time, dependence on a few platforms remains a risk for anyone building a career on them.

Who is affected: Young people who make or want to make videos; freelancers such as editors and scriptwriters; small businesses that use creators for marketing; brands; and policymakers looking at jobs in the digital economy.

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