Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday to unveil the Netflix India Storytelling Initiative, a multi-phase investment in India's creative talent pipeline. The announcement landed the same week Netflix completed ten years in the country, a milestone Sarandos also marked by meeting with creative writers in India, according to Rediff and Business Standard.

The initiative builds on a partnership Netflix says has produced more than 200 originals across over 100 filming locations in India over the past decade, per Variety. The first phase focuses on skilling young people for careers in animation, visual effects, gaming and comics — what Netflix calls the "Orange Economy," a term for creative industries that generate economic value through storytelling and design.

Two institutional partnerships anchor the launch. Netflix will co-develop curricula with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) in Visual Effects Mastery and Media Technology Workflows. The company is also funding 100 scholarships for students to attend IICT programmes in person, covering subjects including Interactive Comics and Sequential Art, Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports and Gaming Management.

A second partnership, with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), trains audio description writers and voice talent to make films and series more accessible to audiences with visual and hearing impairments. Netflix says this supports the Prime Minister's accessibility agenda.

Netflix linked the initiative to the Indian government's "Viksit Bharat @ 2047" vision — a national roadmap aimed at developed-country status by 2047 — and framed education, industry partnerships and creator training as the levers for establishing India as a global storytelling hub. Sarandos said the initiative reflects Netflix's long-term commitment to strengthening India's creative ecosystem by creating more opportunities for emerging creators.

Netflix cited the big-budget Indian Air Force-themed patriotic series "Operation Safed Sagar" as evidence of what Indian creators and production talent can achieve at a global scale. The company did not disclose further details about the series in the announcement.

India holds a 40%–60% cost advantage in animation and VFX services compared with other markets, according to India's Press Information Bureau in a May 2025 release, which also noted growing international demand for Indian streaming content. Sarandos has previously praised the government's WAVES (World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit) event, alongside actor Saif Ali Khan, per the Press Information Bureau.

What makes the announcement stand out is its structure. Rather than ordering a slate of new shows, Netflix is putting money into classrooms and curricula — scholarships, degree programmes and accessibility training. The bet is that a deeper talent pool, not just bigger budgets, is what sustains a production ecosystem over the next decade. For a streaming platform that has already spent ten years and over 200 originals building an audience in India, the next phase is about who makes the shows, not just how many.