According to the second edition of the periodic Creative Economy Outlook: Trends in International Trade in Creative Industries report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India’s creative goods exports increased nearly threefold from $7.4 billion in 2005 to $20.2 billion in 2014, making it one of the world’s leading exporters of such products in the top 10 developing economies.
The report examines the global picture, and also features 130 country profiles with reported creative goods and services trade data. The data, which covers the period 2002 to 2015, shows the creative economy’s contribution to world trade. Over this period, the value of the global market for creative goods doubled from $208 billion in 2002 to $509 billion in 2015. “China, Hong Kong (China), India, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines were the top 10 performing developing economies stimulating global trade in creative goods,” the report said.
“The creative economy has both commercial and cultural worth. This dual value has led governments worldwide to focus on expanding and developing their creative economies as part of economic diversification strategies and efforts to stimulate prosperity and well-being,” said Pamela Coke-Hamilton, who directs UNCTAD’s trade division.
Salient comments on India’s creative industries from the report:
–>Food service sales in the country are growing at about 10 percent annually, making it one of the fastest growing sellers in the world. This growth is double the rate expected for the much more mature U.S. restaurant industry, and with a population four times that of the U.S.
–>India’s fashion industry is likely to continue its growth since the country has a large young population.
–>Art crafts (carpet and yarn products) was another dynamic sector with exports at $1.5 billion in 2014.
–>With the country’s youth population standing at over 350 million, India is one of the largest markets for companies operating in the global gaming industry, and it has become the center for outsourcing game development and game support services. Going forward, the country is expected to become the hub for development, porting, and dubbing of various games across the globe, due to low costs and the easy availability of game developers with world-class experience.
–> Indian animation and visual effects industry grew at 16.4 percent in 2016 to reach a size of $8.2 billion. Visual effects are indispensable parts of film making and the Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced.
