India’s live events and entertainment sector is set to nearly double in size by 2030, with industry leaders highlighting its far-reaching economic and cultural impact amid calls for regulatory reforms and infrastructure investment.
India’s live events and entertainment sector is on track to almost double in size by the end of the decade, with industry leaders saying the country is moving into an era where concerts, weddings, exhibitions and other shared experiences are becoming a major economic force. Samit Garg, president of the Events and Entertainment Management Association and managing director and co-founder of E-Factor Experiences Limited, said the experience economy was worth $32.2 billion now and could rise to $59.2 billion by 2030.
Speaking at EEMAGINE, a gathering of events and experiential marketing professionals in Chennai, Garg said the industry had been expanding steadily for the past five years, with annual growth of 16% to 18%. He said weddings were growing at 18% to 20%, sports at about 20% to 23% and ticketed events at roughly 26%, underlining how broad the sector’s momentum has become.
An EEMA report on the socio-economic impact of India’s events and experiences industry said the sector sits at the intersection of commerce, culture and community, with ripple effects across hospitality, travel, retail, logistics, media, technology and small businesses. The study, prepared with support from KPMG and informed by Mastercard’s insights on consumer spending, called for faster single-window permissions, stronger safety guidance, better protection for gig and contract workers and more investment in event infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. It also said around 80% of organisers view the process of securing permissions as difficult.
Other industry summaries released around the roadmap paint the same picture of scale. EEMA says the organised events business contributes about ₹3.5 lakh crore to ₹4 lakh crore to the economy and supports more than 1 crore jobs, while the wider wedding economy is estimated at about ₹125 lakh crore. Live events alone are said to exceed ₹2 lakh crore and continue to expand at about 15% a year. The association also argues that India, despite accounting for nearly 18% of the world’s population, still makes up only 2% to 4% of the global experience economy, suggesting substantial room for growth.
The broader policy discussion is moving in a similar direction. Industry bodies have urged the government to align regulation, infrastructure and clearances more closely with the scale of the opportunity, while the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Live Events Development Cell has set an ambition of creating 15 million to 20 million additional jobs by 2030. Against that backdrop, EEMA is presenting the experience economy not as a niche entertainment segment but as a core part of India’s growth story.
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