BookMyShow, District Partner I&B Min To Boost India's Live Events Space

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) announced today that it had convened the first meeting of a Joint Working Group (JWG) for the promotion of the live events industry after consultations with the likes of Eternal-owned District, BookMyShow and other live ticketing and events platforms.

The group featured representatives from major players in the space like BookMyShow, Eternal’s District, Wizcraft, among other stakeholders along with representatives from the MIB, DPIIT, and officials of several state governments.

“The Secretary, Ministry of I&B, underlined the Government’s commitment to establishing India as one of the Top 5 global live entertainment destinations by 2030, with the potential to generate 15–20 Mn jobs, expand infrastructure, and strengthen India’s global cultural influence,” the government said in a statement.

The key outcomes of the discussion are as follows:

Single Window Platform

The government plans on integrating all live event clearances on a single platform, Indian Cine Hub Portal. The portal was launched last June by the MIB to provide a single-window system for film permissions, incentives, and resource mapping across India. While the plan is to include clearances for live events on the portal, the timeline for the same is yet to be discerned.

Music Licensing & IP Rights

Under this, we can soon expect the launch of a “Centralised Digital Music Licensing Registry” by October 2025. The aim is to streamline music licensing and IP rights management in collaboration with several rights societies such as Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), Recorded Music Performance Limited (RMPL), Indian Music Industry Trust (IMI-Trust), among others.

Development Of Resources

To nurture the live event space, the government is planning to consider GST rebates, MSME recognition for the live entertainment sector, creation of a policy to allow multi-use of stadiums and public spaces for live events and the inclusion of live entertainment skills in the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

India’s live music and events industry is in overdrive particularly after high-profile events like the Coldplay shows in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, as well as the entry of international events like Lollapalooza.

In a whitepaper issued earlier this year, MIB-backed WAVES highlighted that the 2024–25 period marked a critical turning point for this sector with event tourism surging to nearly half a million fans travelling between cities specifically to attend live music events, signalling the rise of a vibrant music-tourism economy.

However, the massive success of such events in recent years has also brought to the fore some glaring gaps in the space.

For instance, the aforementioned Coldplay concert saw BookMyShow struggle with unauthorised resale of tickets or scalping for its exclusive concert. A similar issue was faced by Eternal’s District during Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘Dil-luminati Tour – India’ event late last year.

Despite the challenges, the country’s live entertainment market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the media and entertainment industry, growing at a 15% CAGR from INR 20,861 Cr in 2024. “With rising demand across Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities, surging music tourism, and premium audience experiences, the sector is emerging as a critical pillar of India’s creative economy,” the government statement read.

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