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The HR’s role in the Orange Economy is not to manage humans. It is to cultivate creativity, celebrate diversity, and lead with compassion.During WAVES Summit 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced something revolutionary: “India is stepping into the Orange Economy.” That one sentence called not only for a change in sectoral focus but also for us as a nation to reassess value creation at the workplace for a Viksit Bharat.
The Orange Economy is the term used to define industries based on imagination, intellectual property, culture, and human expression. Media, design, crafts, performing and visual arts, gaming, fashion, film, and advertisement, among others, fall into this category. In developed economies, this industry has been well recognized for its impact on GDP. India, which is culturally rich with some of the most vibrant creative traditions globally, has largely underestimated this sphere—until now.
What is historic about this moment is not only the acknowledgment of creativity as a driver of economic growth but the potential that India can lead the world. This will be achieved not by copying industrial scale models, but by selling meaning, stories, aesthetics, and original design thinking from our depth of civilization.
The Rise of the Creatives
The creative economy is already a powerhouse globally. UNESCO calculates that it generates over 3% of global GDP and underpins over 50 million jobs. India, though being the world’s biggest movie production country with a myriad of art forms, has scarcely tapped this opportunity. India’s creative sector constitutes a mere 6% of our GDP. This is slowly changing.
As per a recent NITI Aayog estimate, if there is a policy push and ecosystem support, this percentage could increase to over 10% by 2030, with the potential of generating more than 30 million new livelihoods.
Interestingly, India has more than 700 million internet users, the majority of whom are young, multilingual, and culturally expressive, and yet the creative industry today accounts for only approximately 6% of the GDP. This appears to be a modest number, considering the cultural wealth we possess. But that tide is shifting.
A recent report by BCG shows that India’s digital creator economy alone will generate more than $1 trillion in consumer spending by 2030, from the current $350 billion. Direct revenues from this arena, which are currently worth $20-25 billion, will increase five times to $100-125 billion by the end of the decade. With 2.0-2.5 million active digital creators, this marks an irrefutable change in the manner in which India will create economic value.
We are already seeing signs of this shift. Kusha Kapila, who began with smartphone satire, now anchors fashion campaigns and films. Craft clusters in Gujarat and Odisha, through platforms like Okhai, are turning heritage skills into income. Labels like Raw Mango are reimagining Indian textiles for the world platform. Even the Mumbai Police’s social media presence has become an innovative case study of civic communication.
Every example points to a larger truth. We are no longer just consuming culture; we are exporting it. And as a result, we are unleashing new sources of economic and emotional value, rooted in India’s staggering creative capital.
Rethinking Work
This cultural and digital revolution is not only reshaping markets, it is radically transforming the very essence of work. For decades, organizations thrived on efficiency, standardization, and control. But now, value is created around a very different triplet- originality, intuition, and emotional connection. Creativity is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ expertise. It is the business strategy hub for companies.
The best-regarded international companies are not only selling things. They are creating immersive experiences, constructing communities, and telling great stories. As part of the Orange Economy, companies now need to take a similar leap. In banking, healthcare, retail, or public services, competitive advantage will increasingly go to those who incorporate creativity across all touchpoints, from product development and customer interactions to internal culture and workspace design.
The food ordering behemoth used India’s cultural capital by implementing local languages and regional humour within its campaigns. In regions like Kerala, where humour and culture are paramount, Zomato incorporated the Malayalam language and culturally relevant references in their campaigns. This strategy did not merely market food, it created an emotional bond with users by genuinely showcasing local culture. Zomato evolved from a service to a cultural icon, demonstrating how innovation can enhance relationships with the audience.
Picture a financial services company that takes inspiration from local art to develop more culturally savvy campaigns. Or a logistics company that infuses local symbolism into its delivery icons, building trust in underserved markets. Or a bank that empowers makers by facilitating digital payments, thereby unlocking not only economic value but social purpose too. In all instances, creativity is a bridge. Not only to improve design but to greater connection.
The Evolving Role of Leadership
This shift also brings with it a new definition of leadership. Tomorrow’s leaders will no longer be strategists or managers. They will be culture curators, narrative weavers, and meaning-makers in the workplace. They will need to navigate the divide between data-driven insight and human empathy, guiding ambiguity and drawing on creativity and innovation. These leaders will be called upon to use their intuition, cultural awareness, and emotional intelligence to navigate organizations through the dynamic of the Orange Economy. To enable this new paradigm of leadership, performance metrics need to change.
Old-fashioned KPIs, based on efficiency and monetary outcome, do not hold the essence of success on a deeper level and in its richness, like emotional commitment, creativity, and cultural fit. In an environment where innovation drives growth, organizations must rethink how they measure performance, incorporating frameworks that celebrate not just results but also experimentation and the human touch.
Gucci’s implementation of a “shadow board” in 2015 is a prime example of this evolution. The luxury company assembled a culturally diverse team of younger staff members to inform its strategic choices, illustrating the benefits of diverse insights and new ways of thinking as drivers of cultural relevance and creativity. Gucci’s success was not merely defined by financial figures. It was about establishing an intimate, cultural relationship with consumers.
Likewise, Adobe has revolutionized leadership through a focus on creativity and teamwork at every level of its business. Adobe’s “Kickbox” innovation programme provides workers the freedom to innovate and try without the burdensome constraints of usual KPIs. This gives people the leeway to test new concepts and projects, no matter what rank they have at the company. Adobe’s leadership is not measured on whether it will achieve its profit goals but also on its capacity to engage and foster creativity throughout the firm.
These instances illustrate that leadership in the Orange Economy is not merely about accomplishing monetary objectives. It’s about creating an environment that cultivates creativity, emotional intelligence, and human relationships. The leadership of the future is about empowering teams, and diversity, and acknowledging that success should not only be measured by profitability but also by the effect of innovation on the organization and society as a whole.
HR 2.0 for the Orange Economy
HR has come to the point of revolution. The conventional HR as a function that just deals with people is not enough anymore. With embracing the Orange Economy, the HR function will have to transform from being a gatekeeper of processes to being a change driver of culture, diversity, and talent development. HR needs to champion diversity as a strategic ability.
The Orange Economy will combine artists, designers, technologists, and entrepreneurs, frequently coming from non-traditional professional routes, who are reshaping how we work. Freelancers, gig economy workers, neurodiverse designers, and multi-lingual content creators will cease to be outsiders. They will become integral to innovation. HR must, therefore, build settings where such different talents will excel and make contributions to the organization’s creative capability. But, to effectively ride this change, HR will have to rethink talent acquisition.
The conventional method of emphasizing academic credentials, linear professional development, or industry-specific experience, will be inadequate since this period will be led by innovation and multidisciplinary thinking. Rather, HR will have to recruit creators, collaborate with ground-level artisans, and identify people with non-traditional yet strong skill sets. These will be the skills that might not necessarily fit into preconceived boxes but can create innovation, craft great stories, and inject new vitality into the company.
A perfect example of this is Atlassian, which recruits people with non-traditional, diverse backgrounds in theatre arts and visual narration. By looking for non-traditional talent, they ignite creativity and innovation in their teams, driving their growth as a top software development player.
Additionally, HR will have to redesign L&D. The technical skills focus needs to be supplemented by cultural fluency, and design thinking. For instance, an engineer with an understanding of storytelling will build more effective AI products, and a banker who is conversant with visual metaphors will build more interactive customer experiences. HR will have to develop spaces for artistic exploration, cultivating a mindset that celebrates innovation, creativity, and emotional connection.
From Scale to Soul
The Orange Economy is a deep change in the way India, and the world, conceive work. As we take the lead in this new creative economy, HR needs to look beyond scale and efficiency to highlight meaning, culture, and creativity. It is not merely an economic chance; it is a duty to present our cultural richness and creative heritage to the world.
For HR professionals, this change presents an opportunity to turn organizations into environments where authenticity, creativity, and human relationships are at the centre of what they do. It is to build workplaces not only productive but imaginative and inclusive. It is an environment where employees feel free to bring their entire selves to work, driven by purpose and a genuine connection to the organization’s cause.
The HR’s role in the Orange Economy is not to manage humans. It is to cultivate creativity, celebrate diversity, and lead with compassion. Organizations that shift now will not only be leading-edge business innovators but will also be leading-edge influencers of the Indian and global cultural future.
India’s competitive revolution is underway today. The question is- are you going to be a part of it?
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHRWorld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHRWorld will not be responsible for any damage caused to any person or organisation directly or indirectly.
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- Published On May 4, 2025 at 07:56 AM IST
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