The global economic landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, with artificial intelligence (AI) and creativity emerging as unexpected bedfellows in driving growth. Nowhere is this more evident than in India, where Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has been championing a radical idea: creativity—not just lines of code—will be the turbocharger for the world’s fastest-growing major economy. This isn’t just corporate optimism; it’s a blueprint backed by hard data and bold initiatives that could redefine how nations harness their cultural capital in the AI age.

The Creativity Goldmine: AI as an Amplifier

Narayen’s vision crystallized at WAVES 2025 in Mumbai, where he argued that AI-powered creativity could employ more Indians than manufacturing—a staggering claim for a sector traditionally dwarfed by factories. But the numbers don’t lie. With generative AI tools like Adobe’s Firefly, trained on India’s linguistic and artistic heritage, creators are already producing hyper-local content at scale. Take Tollywood or Bollywood: AI-assisted scriptwriting and animation are slashing production costs while preserving cultural nuance. This isn’t about robots replacing artists; it’s about democratizing tools so a kid in Kerala can compete with studios in Hollywood.

Digital Sovereignty Through Cultural AI

Here’s where it gets geopolitical. Most AI models today are trained on Western data, spitting out generic outputs that ignore regional context. Narayen’s push for India-specific AI changes the game. By feeding Firefly with datasets from Madhubani paintings to Tamil literature, Adobe’s creating what economists call “digital sovereignty”—a homegrown AI ecosystem that exports culture, not just IT services. The ripple effects are massive: imagine AI-generated Rajasthani folk art selling as NFTs or AI-localized ads for India’s 22 official languages. TCS’s partnership with Adobe to upskill 20 million Indians isn’t charity; it’s a strategic bet that creative AI could add $100B to India’s GDP by 2030.

The Youthquake Economy

India’s median age is 28, and its youth aren’t lining up for factory jobs—they’re hustling on Instagram and YouTube. Narayen’s plan taps into this generational shift. Platforms like Canva and Adobe Express, supercharged by AI, are turning millions into micro-entrepreneurs. A 2024 Deloitte study found Indian creators monetizing AI tools earn 3x more than call center workers. The kicker? This creative economy is inflation-resistant. While manufacturing wobbles during supply chain crises, digital content keeps selling—whether it’s AI-curated wedding videos or meme templates for regional elections.
The tectonic plates of global economics are shifting, and India’s secret weapon might just be its millennia-old creative traditions, turbocharged by silicon. Narayen’s playbook offers a roadmap: invest in culturally rooted AI, equip the youth with no-code creative tools, and watch a nation of 1.4 billion turn its diversity into dollars. Forget “Make in India”—the future belongs to “Create in India.” And if the bets pay off, we might witness history’s first economy where poets and prompt engineers outnumber programmers. Now that’s what you call a soft power revolution.