Gen-Zs, millennials become driving force in India’s live events boom

Tanvi Shirgaonkar is counting down to Jan. 24, when she will finally get to see the Japanese artist Fujii Kaze, best known for the song “Shinunoga E-Wa,” perform in Mumbai at Lollapalooza India.

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 South Korean pop group BTS, Shirgaonkar attends a live event roughly every two months, mostly in Mumbai, and travels overseas at least once a year to see her favorite artists perform.

“Live entertainment offers an experience of collective effervescence and it’s great for social media clout,” the millennial told CNBC.

Shirgaonkar is among a growing tribe of young Indians, whose rising disposable incomes are fueling a boom in the country’s live entertainment industry.

Between 2024 and 2030, India will have the highest increase in working-age population globally, with over 100 million people expected to be added, according to a April 2025 report by Bain & Company.

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

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

That demographic shift is supporting stronger demand for live entertainment.

Companies, including Eternal, which operates the live events platform District, and popular online ticketing platform BookMyShow, are among those betting on the trend.

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

Several large international tours helped drive 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 shows in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“Seventy percent of the live event attendees are under 35 years of age and 52% are under 30,” said Raghav Anand, partner and leader for digital, media and convergence at EY Parthenon, a consultancy.

Anand said the Coldplay concerts marked a turning point for the sector in India, demonstrating the scale of demand and the country’s ability to host global productions.

“The amplification of the [Coldplay] event won over a huge number of people in the experiences bracket, said Anand.

International artists are increasingly adding multiple Indian cities to their tour schedules, aided by digital platforms that make their work more accessible to fan bases across the country.

A key driver of the surge in live events is the growing number of affluent households, which are giving consumers more disposable income to spend on experiences, industry experts said.

“Once you are affluent, it is about new experiences”, said Anand.

Naman Pugalia, Chief Business Officer at BookMyShow, described the rise in live events as a “real renaissance,” driven by audiences placing greater value on how they spend their leisure time.

That shift is reflected in growing demand for premium offerings. According to the BookMyShow report, 2025 saw a doubling of footfall for premium live-event experiences, including VIP pits, viewing decks and enhanced hospitality zones.

The shift is not confined to major metropolitan areas. Smaller cities are seeing rapid growth, which Pugalia attributed to the increasingly fluid nature of fandom across the country.

“Fandom is such a powerful force that it knows really no definitions of tiers or metros, non-metro,” he said, noting that demand is no longer limited to traditional cultural hubs.

Live entertainment footfalls rose 213% in Shillong, 188% in Guwahati and 94% in Nashik in 2025, according to BookMyShow.

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

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

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

Still, infrastructure remains a constraint. India has fewer than 10 purpose-built concert venues capable of hosting audiences of more than 10,000 in major cities, and almost none in smaller urban centers, according to the government white paper.

“The expectation has gone up”, Anand said, citing the need for smoother entry and exit, better facilities and higher overall production standards.

Coldplay’s tour in India, in particular, marked “a genuine turning point” for India’s live entertainment industry in 2025, Anand said, helping establish Ahmedabad as a viable concert destination.

Looking ahead, he said the industry is approaching an inflection point. “2026 [is going] to be a breakout year,” Anand said, as live entertainment takes a more central role in India’s consumer economy.