As India’s creative industries expand in scale but wrestle with sustainability, ownership, and long-term value creation, the question is no longer about talent—it is about systems. At the intersection of culture, commerce, and policy stands the Creative Economy Forum (CEF), a platform that has steadily positioned itself as a convening ground for creators, entrepreneurs, institutions, and the government.
With three successful editions behind it, CEF has evolved from a dialogue-driven forum into a catalyst for structural thinking around IP, monetisation, creator rights, and creative entrepreneurship. Founder Supriya Suri—also a filmmaker and producer—brings a practitioner’s clarity to these conversations, shaped by lived experience within India’s creative ecosystem. In this interview, she speaks candidly about the gaps holding Creative Bharat back, the promise of an IP-led future, and what it will take to turn creativity into a truly sustainable economic force.
Q. CEF is built on policy, business, and creativity. As the forum concludes its three successful editions, which of these pillars needs the most strengthening in India today?
The creative and cultural business pillar needs the most strengthening and attention in India. The business ecosystems that sustains creative careers remain underdeveloped.
Historically artist, creators have struggled with sustainability—access to capital, formal structures, and professional processes have often been limited. Many creative professionals also lack exposure to business education—covering areas such as monetisation, intellectual property, scaling studios, and building globally competitive enterprises.
Strengthening framework around funding, professional management, and formalisation is critical to growing creative careers, businesses and enabling long-term growth.
Q. You often speak about the business of creativity. How is CEF helping creators turn ideas into scalable, monetizable IPs?
We are currently focused on building a platform that nurtures the business of creativity. This begins with curated knowledge series led by senior, established creative entrepreneurs, who share real examples of successful creative businesses and IP journeys, helping creators understand what is possible.
We have also instituted India’s first awards for Creative Entrepreneurs, recognising the effort behind building creative enterprises—across both emerging and established founders, including a category for Best Creative IP.
This year, we introduced a private B2B meeting zone, creating structured spaces for entrepreneurs to connect with each other, exchange ideas, and explore collaborations. These three initiatives form the core of how CEF contributes to strengthening the business side of creativity.
Registered delegates have access to the knowledge series, allowing them to learn, network, and grow from shared entrepreneurial experiences.
Q. With conversations around IP, monetization, and IPOs at CEF 2025, is India finally shifting towards an IP-first creative economy?
India is still far from becoming an IP-first creative economy. From generating awareness among creators about the value of IP, to consistently building and monetising successful IPs, we still have a long way to go.
As highlighted in recent CII media and entertainment reports, the volume of content produced in India far exceeds its monetisation potential—and this gap is equally evident when it comes to IP. We are yet to fully realise and monetise the true value of our intellectual property.
Moving toward an IP-first ecosystem will require stronger creator awareness, better business frameworks and long-term ownership thinking.
Q. CEF has strong government and institutional support. How do you balance cultural legacy with innovation and global ambition?
India’s cultural legacy is our strongest creative asset. We need systems that nurture cultural entrepreneurship, encourage innovation that builds better products and uses new technologies to stay relevant, and enable global exposure, trade, and exports to drive scale and international value.
These three—cultural legacy, innovation, and global ambition—are complementary, not contradictory. Government and institutional support play a crucial role in creating the right environment to carry our cultural assets forward, ensuring they deliver meaningful and sustained impact within the creative economy. Having practitioners and institutions together in a common platform helps foster such dialogues and engage in meaningful conversations.
All three are complementary to each other, and having government and institutional support helps in enabling the environment to take the ambition of our cultural assets forward for it to have a bigger creative economy impact.
Q. As a filmmaker yourself, how has your personal experience shaped CEF’s focus on creator rights and recognition?
As a filmmaker and an entrepreneur, I’ve always approached creativity not just as expression, but as an asset that needs to be understood, protected, and sustained.
Over the past two years, CEF has hosted voices such as Justice Prathibha M. Singh and Tejas Karia, who have offered practical insights into how royalties and fair pay function in India, and how personality rights are becoming increasingly important for creators.
Through these conversations, CEF has aimed to build awareness and understanding around creator rights and recognition—ensuring that creators are better informed, respected, and valued within the evolving creative economy.
Q. Looking ahead, what does success look like for CEF—and for Creative Bharat—in the next five years?
Within two years of its inception, CEF has convened an exclusive roundtable with Kapil Mishra, Hon’ble Minister for Arts and Culture, focused on building Delhi as a Creative Capital.
CEF aims to continue such active collaboration with the government, contributing meaningfully to policy dialogue, city-level creative development, and the growth of India’s national creative economy.
CEF also sees success in sustaining momentum beyond a single annual event by launching multi-year initiatives that keep the creative economy dialogue alive and expanding CEF’s presence across different regions of India, reflecting the diversity of Creative Bharat.
Beyond the Forum and Awards, a key milestone will be the creation of funds focused on creative start-ups and entrepreneurs, helping ideas move closer to viable, scalable businesses.
Ultimately, success for CEF—and for Creative Bharat—will mean a stronger ecosystem where creativity is not only celebrated, but supported, sustained, and economically empowered.
What emerges clearly from Supriya Suri’s vision is that the future of India’s creative economy will not be defined by applause alone—but by ownership, structure, and scale. As Creative Bharat aspires to global relevance, the next phase demands a shift from informal brilliance to formal strength, where creators are entrepreneurs, ideas become assets, and culture translates into long-term economic value.
CEF’s ambition, then, is not limited to hosting conversations—it is about building continuity, capital, and confidence for creators across India. If the coming years see creativity not just celebrated but strategically supported, monetised, and protected, CEF’s role may well be remembered as one that helped India move from being creatively abundant to creatively empowered.
