New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on Friday, announced of a Live Events Development Cell (LEDC) to facilitate the structured growth of India’s rapidly expanding live entertainment industry, which is emerging as a significant contributor to the media and entertainment ecosystem, employment generation and tourism.
The organised live events market was valued at Rs 20,861 crore in 2024 and has been growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent, outpacing several traditional media segments, as per government data. It further indicates that with a projected compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent, the sector is expected to place India among the leading global live entertainment destinations by 2030. Addressing the WAVES Summit in May last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored the vast untapped potential of the live entertainment sector, describing it as a key driver of jobs, investment, tourism and India’s cultural outreach.
The LEDC was constituted in July 2025 under the directions of Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw as a single-window facilitation mechanism for the sector.
It brings together representatives from central and state governments, industry associations, music rights societies and major event companies to coordinate policy support and enable the growth of India’s concert economy.
The live events sector currently supports more than 10 million jobs across its value chain. A single large-format event can generate over 15,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities, highlighting the sector’s role in livelihood creation and its spillover impact on hospitality, transport, tourism and allied services.
Growth has been particularly pronounced in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, which are increasingly emerging as cultural and entertainment hubs. According to a BookMyShow report covering January to November 2025, cities in the north-eastern region recorded sharp increases in live entertainment footfalls, with Shillong witnessing a 213 per cent rise, Guwahati 188 per cent and Kokrajhar 143 per cent. Visakhapatnam reported the highest growth at 490 per cent, followed by Vadodara at 230 per cent.
Overall live entertainment consumption rose by 17 per cent across musical concerts, sports and theatre, while theatre attendance increased by 45 per cent. The report also noted that over five lakh people travelled to other cities to attend live events, an 18 per cent increase over the previous year.
India’s expanding global footprint in live entertainment was reflected in major international and domestic tours during 2025. Global artists such as Enrique Iglesias performed in India, while Indian musicians, including Arijit Singh and A.R. Rahman, undertook large multi-city tours.
According to industry representatives, Indian acts are now touring 10 to 15 cities instead of being confined to a few metropolitan centres, supported by improved infrastructure, venues and production capabilities that have driven higher attendance and wider regional participation.
Moreover, developing the concert economy as a national growth driver, the LEDC aims to double the size of the sector, generate 15 to 20 million direct and indirect jobs, create a single-window ease-of-doing-business ecosystem, develop dedicated live events infrastructure across cities and position India among the world’s top five live entertainment hubs.
The sector’s expansion is being reinforced through enhanced public–private collaboration. Under the Joint Working Group on India’s Live Events Economy constituted by the ministry, industry players such as District by Zomato are working with the government and other stakeholders to address infrastructure gaps, streamline regulatory processes and improve the operating environment for event organisers. Investments in purpose-built venues and technology-enabled event management systems have strengthened India’s capacity to host large-scale international and domestic events. This has been reflected in major events such as Rolling Loud India 2025, which drew an attendance of 65,000 people over a single weekend, underscoring the sector’s growing scale and its potential to boost employment, tourism and India’s standing as a global live entertainment destination.