Saregama India Ltd Management Discussions

Shaping New Futures

Long established as Indias oldest and one of the most respected music label, Saregama has emerged as a multi-dimensional content powerhouse, shaping the future through bold investments, deep IP ownership, and seamless integration across music, video, events, and artiste ecosystems.

Guided by the conviction that great content transcends platforms and formats, Saregama continued to reimagine itself as an agile, digital-first enterprise rooted in legacy but focused on the future. FY25 saw the company make meaningful progress on its ambition to become Indias leading entertainment IP engine. This included major investments in new music acquisitions, regional catalogue expansion and increased activity in the events segment.

While the Indian Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry grew at a steady 8.1%, the ongoing shift in value creation—from traditional formats to digital-first, multi-platform content—continued to gain momentum.

Saregama has remained ahead of this curve by strategically expanding beyond music licensing into high-growth areas such as artiste monetisation, Live events, and platform-agnostic IP creation. This diversified approach is translating into deeper consumer engagement and stronger monetisation across its business verticals.

This growth is underpinned by institutionalised processes that bring rigour to how content is evaluated, priced, and monetised. At Saregama, content selection is not driven by intuition alone, but by a robust analytics framework. The Company has built internal tools to track performance across streaming platforms, social media engagement, and licensing cycles—enabling smarter bets on which songs, scripts, and creators to back. Combined with strong financial discipline and payback-led investment filters, this ensures that growth remains capital-efficient and scalable.

2. Industry Overview: Catalysing Indias Digital Entertainment Renaissance

Indias Media & Entertainment industry is undergoing a transformative shift, powered by rapid digital adoption and evolving consumer habits. The industry stood at 2.5 Tn in 2024 and is projected to reach 3.1 Tn in 2027 (FICCI-EY M&E Report, 2024). Key growth drivers include the proliferation of affordable smartphones (over 750 Mn in use), low-cost data, growing digital literacy, and a rising propensity for discretionary spending, particularly among young, urban audiences.

Digital media now accounts for the largest share of M&E revenue, overtaking television, with digital advertising growing at 17% YoY to 700 Bn. Subscription-based video and audio services are increasingly preferred as free platforms recede. Platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, and regional OTTs have expanded their reach significantly, influencing content formats and monetisation models.

The global music industry also reflects this momentum. According to IFPI, recorded music revenue grew, at a 5-year CAGR of 10%, driven largely by streaming. In India, the music segment is expected to grow at a 14.7% CAGR through 2026, fueled by the decline in piracy, rise of vernacular content, and growing monetisation from YouTube, paid OTT, and brand licensing.

Events are witnessing a resurgence with a projected CAGR of 17.6%, benefiting from enhanced infrastructure and a post-pandemic shift towards experiential entertainment. Indias live events industry is undergoing a significant transformation, emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments within the countrys media and entertainment landscape. Key drivers include a young, digitally connected population, rising demand for immersive cultural experiences, and increasing investments in technology, ticketing platforms, and artist-led IPs. With strong government interest and strategic reforms in infrastructure and licensing underway, India is uniquely positioned to become a top five global live entertainment destination by 2030, leveraging its scale, cultural depth, and economic impact across employment, tourism, and regional development.

3. Segmental Overview: Building Scale Across Verticals

As Indias media consumption rapidly evolves, Saregama has strategically diversified across four synergistic verticals—Music, Video, Retail, and Events. Each vertical is aligned with secular growth trends, and contributes uniquely to Saregamas overarching IP-led business model. The following sub-sections delve into the performance, industry backdrop, strategic imperatives, and future direction for each of these segments.

Music: Licensing and Artiste Management

Indias music industry is witnessing a major shift from free streaming models to paid subscriptions and platform licensing, with a 14.7% CAGR expected through 2026. Global growth mirrors this trend, with the IFPI noting a 10.2% YoY rise in recorded music revenues globally. As several free streaming platforms like Wynk and Hungama exited during the year, Saregama saw a short-term disruption but mitigated this with strong growth from other licensing verticals. Saregamas music business continued to be the cornerstone of operations, contributing 6,104 Mn to total revenue in FY25. The company has a strong IP of 1,70,000+ songs across languages including Hindi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, etc. This multilingual strategy helped strengthen Saregamas regional footprint and relevance in a fragmented yet fast-growing market. During the year, Saregama reinforced its leadership in the music space with blockbuster movie album releases such as Stree 2 (Hindi), Bad Newz (Hindi), Kalki 2898 AD (Telugu), Hello Mummy (Malayalam), Max (Kanada), etc. Further, songs such as Aaj Ki Raat (Hindi), TaubaTauba(Hindi),Premalo(Telugu),Amaran(Tamil), etc. topped charts and garnered record-breaking streams across platforms. Our diverse music portfolio, spanning Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, and other regional languages, saw exceptional engagement across YouTube, audio OTTs, and social media. 10 songs released during FY25 crossed 100 Mn views.

Saregama is actively expanding its music portfolio through strategic inorganic acquisitions. In FY25, the Company acquired catalogues comprising over 2,800 songs across 22 regional labels in 7 languages, including Gujarati, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Chhattisgarhi, Haryanvi, and Devotional genres. These acquisitions, backed by strong subscriber traction, are aimed at enhancing market share and driving revenue from high-performing IP assets. Artiste Management vertical—wherein artistes are made popular through the companys IP releases across music, short or longer-format films, and subsequently monetised through bookings for live events, weddings, and brand endorsements—continued its upward trajectory in FY25. The roster scaled to over 230 creators and influencers, with a digital footprint of more than 350 Mn followers across social media platforms. A key accelerator for this vertical has been the acquisition of a 90.37% stake in Pocket Aces, a leading youth-focused digital content company that brings with it a strong creator network, digital storytelling capabilities, and audience engagement through brands like FilterCopy and Dice Media. This strategic integration strengthens Saregamas ability to nurture talent, embed creators into its IP ecosystem, and offer end-to-end branded content and talent solutions—thereby advancing its 360-degree IP monetisation strategy across music, video, and events.

b. Video: Films, TV, Digital Series, Short Format

The Indian OTT market, provides a fertile ground for Saregamas content. The explosion of smartphone ownership and cheap data are the biggest drivers of this vertical. The company follows a disciplined investment approach focused on pre-licensed and low-cost, high-efficiency projects. Regional and youth-driven stories, backed by Pocket Aces content intelligence, remain core to the video strategy. Saregamas video vertical, operating under Yoodlee Films, Dice Media, Filter Copy, etc. continued to strengthen its presence in Indias burgeoning digital content economy. Releases during FY25 included the Telugu romantic-action film Dilruba, digital series Agra Affairs (Amazon MX Player), Oops Ab Kya (JioHotstar), and branded IP High Heels (in partnership with LOr?al) among others. These projects reflect our growing expertise in storytelling across formats and languages.

Saregama has significantly accelerated its branded and short-format content capabilities. Pocket Aces brands have driven major traction- boasting over 40 Mn subscriber base, having already generated 3.6 Bn+ Video views, and delivering high-impact branded integrations (some campaigns achieving 100–150 million+ views). This segments accelerated momentum—spanning micro-dramas, sketches, and digital-first series—now complements Yoodlees long-form studio excellence, enabling a true full-spectrum content strategy that bridges mass reach with premium quality.

Saregama expects video segment to become the dominant source of entertainment. So, entities owning IPs in this segment will be in a very strong position. Also, Video business is also strategically important for the company to maintain a stronghold on the Music business. Majority of the music consumed in India is film music, and saregama wants to control the source of this music.

The music content, which is put in a Yoodlee film ends up giving a much better ROI than something that company is acquiring from the outside, obviously, because of complete control on what music and what singers are involved in that music. While licensing volumes were modest in FY25 due to industry consolidation and leadership changes at major OTT platforms, the company expects renewed traction in FY26. Several upcoming projects with leading platforms and advertisers are already in the pipeline.

Over the next five years, Saregama aims to grow this vertical at a CAGR of 25%, focusing on regional IPs, creator-driven formats, and branded short-form storytelling.

c. Events

The Indian live entertainment industry is expected to grow at 17.6% CAGR, driven by rising disposable incomes and growing demand for immersive, social experiences. Saregama capitalised on this momentum by leveraging its music IP and artist ecosystem to produce cost-efficient, high-margin events.

FY25 marked an inflection point for Saregamas events vertical, which contributed 2,850 Mn in revenue, making it the second-largest business segment after music. Riding on the massive success of the Dil-Luminati tour, the company scaled up its IP-driven event strategy with Cap Mania Tour and shows like Yeh Shaam Mastani and Disco Dancer.

During the year, successful shows were held with Viraj Ghelani, and other managed artistes across Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara. The company also laid the groundwork for upcoming launches including a two-day music festival in South India.

Looking ahead, Saregama aims to expand the Events vertical by focusing on high-impact properties featuring marquee Indian and International artists. The company aims to scale this vertical through premium ticketed formats, strategic partnerships, and wider presence across key metros and emerging cultural hubs, positioning Events as a meaningful and recurring revenue contributor.

d. Retail

Carvaan, a pioneering product that bridges nostalgia and technology, saw a complete strategic pivot to digital and ecommerce-led distribution in FY25. The company sold 4.3 lakh units during the year.

While the broader music retail landscape continues to evolve, niche, curated devices like Carvaan retain strong relevance in Indias premium audio and gifting segments. Saregama, recognising this, transitioned the business by reducing the headcounts, reducing SKUs and optimizing the supply chain. Saregama is moving towards selling the products through e-commerce platforms and modern trade outlets, eliminating their presence through individual mom-and-pop stores.

Carvaans contribution to overall revenue remained modest, yet the EBITDA profile improved significantly due to lower overheads and higher ecommerce sales share. The company remains committed to maintaining the brands legacy appeal while launching digital-first products and bundles that align with evolving consumer habits.

Financial Highlights

FY25 marked a historic year for Saregama India Limited, reflecting the resilience and scalability of its diversified content model. The company reported its highest-ever consolidated revenue of 11,713 Mn, a robust 46% year-on-year growth. This was driven by consistent performance across all verticals—music licensing, live events, artist management, video content, and music retail.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year stood at 3,560 Mn, up 18% YoY. Profit Before Tax (PBT) rose to 2,761 Mn, despite a 62% surge in content investment to 3,160 Mn—signalling the strength of the underlying business in absorbing upfront costs while expanding long-term monetisable IP.

Importantly, the companys balance sheet remained strong and well-capitalised. Supported by internal accruals and a successful Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), Saregama is equipped with sufficient capital to meet its ambitious 10,000 Mn content investment commitment over FY25–FY27. Strategic control over costs, increased share of digital revenues, and rising licensing income across newer content have allowed the company to maintain its EBITDA guidance in the 32–33% range.

Operational efficiency improvements across the board—from rationalising Carvaans cost structure to optimising event margins—further enhanced profitability. With its diversified portfolio and disciplined investment philosophy, Saregama is well-positioned to double PBT over the next 3–4 years, as newer content begins to contribute meaningfully to recurring revenue and profitability.

Defining the Future of Entertainment

FY25 stands as a testament to Saregama India Limiteds evolution into one of Indias most formidable content IP houses. The Companys bold 10,000 Mn content investment plan has a healthy five-year payback period, followed by monetisation opportunities extending well beyond five decades—making it not just a growth lever, but a durable competitive moat across platforms and formats.

Saregamas business model—anchored in owning, monetising, and revitalising content IP—is now further fortified by its presence in live events, and the influencer economy. Events feed off music, music feed off films, films are used to promote artistes, and the same artistes are then going out there performing in events. So, for the company theres a lot of synergy. With more than 350 Mn followers across owned digital properties, over 230 artists under management, and one of the richest music catalogues in the country, the company is uniquely positioned to benefit from every major shift in how Indians consume entertainment. All of this is in sync with the strategy to future-proof company through aggressive new IP purchase, but at the same time, hedging the risk by diversifying companies IP portfolio across music, video, retail, and events.

Over the next 3–5 years, Saregama aims to:

Expand music IP and licensing revenue through subscription-based platforms and regional content.

Scale events into a recurring, high-margin vertical with strong brand IPs.

Build a differentiated video content portfolio through pre-licensing and low-cost creator-first formats.

Deepen monetisation across artiste management and branded content.

As India marches towards a $ 7 Tn economy with increasing digital engagement and content consumption, Saregama is poised to not just participate in this growth—but to lead, shape, and define the entertainment landscape of tomorrow. With a strong foundation of robust processes and data-driven decision-making, Saregama is not just poised to endure industry shifts—but to reinforce its position as Indias leading entertainment IP powerhouse in the years ahead.