Salone Sehgal speaks to Outlook Business

In a recent episode of the Escape Velocity podcast by Outlook Business, Salone Sehgal, Founder and Managing Partner at Lumikai, shared insights on the rise of India’s interactive media sector, and the tailwinds leading to growth in this sunrise sector.

Salone highlighted key structural shifts powering this growth:

• Interactive media is a $12.5 billion industry in India, growing at 16% Y-o-Y

• Interactive media includes - gaming, digital streaming, social entertainment, esports, and more and makes up 50% of India’s media and entertainment economy

• Gaming has grown to $3.8B, three times the size of Bollywood and larger than cricket

• In app purchases are growing at 44%

• 66% of gamers come from non-metro cities, and 44% are women

• Average revenue per paying user rose from $2 to $22 in the past five years, grown 15% in the last year itself
  

The discussion also covered the need for local IP, creative infrastructure, and the application of AI in game development. Salone also spoke on the rise of women gamers, the role of narrative in cultural exports, and the path ahead for Indian founders to create globally relevant, best-in-class interactive media and gaming products.

You can watch the entire podcast here.