Revenue of films in India 2023, by source

India is one of the world’s leading film entertainment markets, with the overall revenue raised by the Indian film industry grossing just under 200 billion Indian rupees in 2023. A major share of this revenue was contributed by the domestic theatricals followed by digital streaming rights.

 The Indian film industry’s year of “dump months”

The year 2020 was rife with economic setbacks across industries owing to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The film industry was one of many sectors expected to perform poorly as lockdown measures restricted the operations of cinemas leading to domestic film revenue estimations suggesting a steep decline in 2021. In terms of box office ratings too, 2020 was a dry year with ‘Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior’ being the highest grossing production and the only blockbuster, while most other films released in that year were deemed flops.

 Beneficiaries of the pandemic

  The digital and OTT video division, however, appeared to be the most resilient segment of the Indian film industry. Forecasts for both digital rights and OTT video revenues predicted an upward trend from 2021 onwards as engagement with OTT movies and other video genres shot up since the pandemic and during the subsequent lockdown between March and June 2020.