Union Budget 2026 Expectations: Marketing industry seeks policy stability, digital infrastructure push and creator economy enablement – Mediabrief.com

Standing at the cusp of a revolution, the Indian media and advertising industry is looking for clarity and confidence from the Union Budget 2026. MarTech, AdTech, and AI have increasingly become indispensable elements for businesses to scale and operate. and the industry would benefit if the Budget focuses on enabling faster and more responsible adoption of these technologies.
For Indian companies, navigating through the impact of regulations like DPDP Act alongside broader economic headwinds has been challenging. In this context, clear direction around AI-led innovation, along with incentives that encourage domestic digital businesses to invest and expand can play a meaningful role in sustaining growth.
Overall, a Budget that reinforce innovation while strengthening the digital ecosystem can help Indian companies compete strongly and effectively on the global stage.
From an advertising, digital, and media & entertainment standpoint, the pre-Budget expectation is largely about confidence and continuity rather than dramatic policy shifts. The industry is looking for signals that support consumption, digital infrastructure, and ease of doing business—because ad spends are a downstream outcome of consumer sentiment.
Continued focus on capital expenditure, employment generation, and middle-income spending power will directly influence brand investments across FMCG, auto, durables, and services. For the digital and M&E sector, sustained government emphasis on broadband penetration, regional content creation, and the creator economy will be critical, especially as non-metro and rural audiences drive the next wave of growth.
At the same time, agencies and media companies are cautious about rising compliance and taxation-related costs. Clarity around data governance, GST structures, and platform regulation will help businesses plan better. Overall, a stable, pro-growth Budget that avoids shocks and reinforces long-term digital adoption will translate into healthier advertising momentum in the year ahead.
For the upcoming Union Budget 2026, we expect the Government to formally recognise and support the creator economy as a strategic growth sector, through clarified GST treatment for digital content services, tax incentives for content-to-commerce monetisation models, and social security frameworks for gig creators that bring stability to this dynamic workforce.
India’s creator economy is now a major force shaping digital consumption and market behaviour. The country is home to an estimated 2 to 2.5 million active digital creators who currently influence more than $350 billion in annual consumer spending, and this figure is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030. Direct ecosystem revenues are expected to grow from $20–25 billion today to $100–125 billion by the end of the decade, underlining the massive economic opportunity ahead.
Yet, only about 8–10 % of creators today monetise effectively, highlighting a huge opportunity for policy action to unlock broader participation and sustainable livelihoods. With creator-led commerce and community-driven content influencing up to 30 % of purchase decisions, its role in India’s digital economy is now structurally significant.
Budget 2026 can catalyse this ecosystem by supporting monetisation tools, easing compliance, and integrating creators into formal social security frameworks, enabling millions of creators to turn influence into sustainable economic participation.
As we approach Union Budget 2026, we expect targeted policy support that enables the creator economy to mature into a structured, scalable digital industry. Clear taxation norms, incentives for creator-tech platforms, and easier compliance for creator-led enterprises can accelerate sustainable monetisation and formalisation of the ecosystem.
The opportunity is already massive. India has over 2 million active creators today, influencing more than $350 billion in consumer spending annually, with this figure expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030. Additionally, direct revenues generated by the creator ecosystem are projected to expand from $20–25 billion currently to nearly $125 billion by the end of the decade.
Despite this scale, monetisation remains concentrated, with only a small fraction of creators generating a stable income. Budget 2026 can catalyse the next phase of growth by enabling policy frameworks that support creator monetisation, strengthen trust in influencer marketing, and position India as a global hub for creator-led digital commerce.
Marketing has become a core growth driver of India’s digital economy, but policy support now needs to catch up with how the industry actually operates. As Indian agencies scale globally, the focus in the Union Budget must shift from broad intent to targeted enablement.
AI-led marketing innovation and advanced analytics are no longer optional capabilities, they are essential for global competitiveness. Allocations that support AI and ML research for marketing use cases, along with incentives for MSMEs to adopt MarTech tools such as CRM, automation and analytics, can significantly accelerate maturity across the ecosystem.
At the same time, simpler compliance frameworks and clearer taxation structures for digital service exports will help Indian agencies compete more effectively on the global stage. Continued investment in Digital Public Infrastructure will further strengthen omnichannel growth and reinforce India’s ambition to build world-class, export-ready digital businesses.
India’s media and content ecosystem is at a turning point. While we already deliver large-scale media services to global markets, the next phase of growth lies in building the technology platforms that power content production, management, and distribution at scale.
A focused push in the budget towards deep-tech infrastructure in media, spanning cloud-based production, automation, and content operations, can help Indian companies move up the value chain. This would not only strengthen our service exports but also unlock a new category of creative and technology-led exports from India.

source