Gen Z and Millennials will power India’s live events boom

Tanvi Shirgaonkar is counting down the days until January 24 when she can finally see Japanese artist Kaze Fujii, best known for ‘Sinu Noga Ee Wa’, perform at Lollapalooza India in Mumbai.

The 29-year-old banking professional said the show will be the first of many concerts and live events she plans to “experience” this year. An avid fan of Korean pop group BTS, Shilgaonkar attends live events, mostly in Mumbai, about every two months and travels abroad at least once a year to see her favorite artists perform.

“Live entertainment provides an experience of collective excitement and is great for social media influence,” Millennial told CNBC.

Shirgaonkar is part of a growing tribe of young Indians whose rising disposable income is fueling a boom in the country’s live entertainment industry.

According to an April 2025 report from Bain & Company, India is expected to have the world’s fastest growing working-age population from 2024 to 2030, adding more than 100 million people.

India’s working-age population (defined as those aged 15-59) currently accounts for 64.2% of the total population and is expected to remain close to 65% over the next decade, according to government data.

Per capita income is also projected to grow the fastest among the top five emerging markets, including China, Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

This demographic shift is supporting a growing demand for live entertainment.

including companies eternalDistrict, which operates live events platform District, and popular online ticketing platform BookMyShow are among the companies betting on this trend.

According to a report by BookMyShow, India’s live entertainment sector grew by 17% last year. In 2025 alone, India hosted 34,086 live events including concerts, theater shows, and comedy shows.

Several major overseas tours fueled the surge. These included Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour in Ahmedabad and Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus tour, which concluded in India with performances in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“70% of live event attendees are under 35 years old and 52% are under 30 years old,” said Raghav Anand, partner and leader of digital, media and convergence at consultancy EY Parthenon.

Anand said the Coldplay concert marked a turning point for the sector in India, proving the magnitude of demand and the country’s ability to host world-class productions.

“The amplification of the (Coldplay) event has touched a huge number of people in the experience demographic,” Anand said.

International artists are increasingly adding multiple cities in India to their tour schedules with the help of digital platforms that make their work more accessible to fan bases across the country.

Industry experts say the main driver of the surge in live events is the rise in affluent households, giving consumers more disposable income to spend on experiences.

“Once you’re wealthy, the next step is to have new experiences,” Anand says.

Naman Pugalia, chief business officer at BookMyShow, described the rise in live events as a “true renaissance” driven by viewers becoming more focused on how they spend their free time.

This change is reflected in the growing demand for premium products. BookMyShow reports that attendance will double in 2025 for premium live event experiences, including VIP pits, observation decks, and enhanced hospitality zones.

This change is not limited to metropolitan areas. Smaller cities are experiencing rapid growth, and Pugalia attributes this to the increasing fluidity of fandom across the country.

“Fandom is such a powerful force that it doesn’t really know the definition of class or metro or non-metro,” he said, noting that demand is no longer limited to traditional cultural hubs.

According to BookMyShow, live entertainment attendance increased by 213% in Shillong, 188% in Guwahati and 94% in Nashik in 2025.

According to a government vision paper released in May last year, India aims to be among the world’s top five producers of live entertainment by 2030.

The sector’s rapid growth is spreading to other parts of the economy. Coldplay’s Ahmedabad concert alone generated an economic value of 6.41 billion rupees ($70.5 million) across hospitality, retail, transport and tourism, according to an EY report from May last year.

To keep up with demand, organizers and ticketing platforms are investing in larger venues, improved safety measures, and more efficient crowd management.

Still, infrastructure remains constrained. According to a government white paper, India has fewer than 10 purpose-built concert venues in large cities that can seat more than 10,000 people, and almost none in smaller urban centres.

“Expectations are rising,” Anand said, citing the need for smoother entry and exit, better equipment and higher overall production standards.

Coldplay’s India tour in particular was a “real turning point” for India’s live entertainment industry in 2025, Anand said, and helped establish Ahmedabad as a viable concert destination.

Looking ahead, he said the industry is nearing a tipping point. “2026 is going to be a breakthrough year,” Anand said, as live entertainment takes a more central role in India’s consumer economy.