Union Budget 2026-27: What is Orange Economy? What does the colour signify

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget for 2026-27 placed India’s creative industries firmly at the centre of the government’s services-led growth strategy, marking one of the most explicit policy endorsements yet of what is increasingly referred to as the "Orange Economy".

What is the Orange economy?

At its core, the Orange Economy is simply the creative economy, industries where the main product isn’t a physical good, but an idea. It refers to knowledge-based activities that combine culture, creativity, technology, and intellectual property to produce economic, social, and cultural value.

Unlike traditional manufacturing-led growth, these sectors derive their primary value from ideas, artistic expression and cultural capital rather than physical goods. Think films, music, gaming, fashion, design, animation, digital content, advertising, publishing, and even software and platforms that help creators build and distribute their work.

Why is it called the "Orange Economy"?

The term “orange economy” was first coined by former Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez and former culture minister Felipe Buitrago, a colour which resonates across cultures in creative, religious and cultural spheres.

They introduced the concept in their 2013 book, The Orange Economy: An Infinite Opportunity, to describe the economic potential of culture, creativity, and intellectual property.

The logic behind the name is part symbolism and part branding. “Orange” was chosen because the colour is strongly associated with creativity, culture, and transformation, making it a fitting shorthand for a sector driven by imagination and intellectual property rather than factories and fixed assets.

Why the Orange Economy matters right now

According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, creativity-led domains, including culture, media, entertainment and intellectual property, have the potential to become major drivers of employment, urban services and tourism in India.

The Survey places India’s creative potential in a global context as well, noting that creative industries contribute anywhere between 0.5% and over 7% of GDP across countries, based on estimates from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

For India, the relevance is amplified by structural shifts already underway: a young population, increasing urbanisation, rising disposable incomes, widespread digital adoption and improving physical infrastructure in cities. Together, these conditions create an ecosystem where creativity-led services can scale rapidly, provided regulatory and capacity constraints are addressed.

In simple terms: India already has the audience, the platforms, the talent pool and the demand — the missing piece has been systematic skilling and formal pathways to turn creative ability into stable jobs and scalable businesses.

What Sitharaman announced in the Budget 2026-27

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman connected the Orange Economy directly to job creation and future-ready skills, especially through AVGC.

Addressing the nation, she said, "India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is a growing industry, projected to require 2 million professionals by 2030. I propose to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai, in setting up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges."

It’s a sharp signal because it treats creative work as mainstream economic infrastructure, not a side industry.

Why AVGC is central to the Orange Economy play

The AVGC space sits at the intersection of creativity and technology. It feeds everything from cinema and OTT content to advertising, gaming, comics, ed-tech modules and immersive experiences.

That makes it one of the most scalable segments of the creative economy, and one where India already has a presence, but faces a clear constraint: trained manpower.

The Budget’s choice to seed “content creator labs” inside the education system directly targets this bottleneck. The idea is to build a steady pipeline of creators who are not only talented but employable in structured industry roles, animation, rendering, storyboarding, design, coding, post-production, and more.

What the labs could change on the ground

The Budget push aims to reduce the skills gap early, before students reach the job market. By setting up labs across schools and colleges, the government is signalling three outcomes:

• Access gets wider, because creative tools and training are no longer limited to expensive private institutes

• Talent becomes employable, because students learn industry-relevant production skills early

• Creative careers get formalised, moving from informal freelancing into structured job tracks and enterprises

This is also expected to democratise entry into the creator economy beyond metros, expanding participation by geography, language and socio-economic background.