India’s Content Business: Inside the Equity Deals Reshaping Entertainment Studios

India’s content production houses are rapidly shifting from creator-led banners to capital-backed studios as rising costs and OTT economics reshape the market. Landmark equity deals involving Excel Entertainment, Dharma Productions and global investors signal a new, more corporate phase for the Indian entertainment business.

The Indian content industry has entered a decisive new phase—one where creativity is no longer the only currency that matters. Capital structure, strategic alignment and long-term monetisation of intellectual property (IP) are now central to how production houses are valued, scaled and sustained. This transition has been underscored by two of the most significant equity transactions in recent years: Universal Music Group’s Rs 800 crore minority investment in Excel Entertainment and Adar Poonawalla-led Serene Productions’ Rs 1,000 crore acquisition of 50% stake in Dharma Productions.

While the two deals have often been compared for their headline values, they are fundamentally different in intent, structure and long-term implications. Together, however, they offer a clear lens into how India’s content market is evolving—from founder-led creative boutiques into structured, investment-ready studios adopting a distinctly Hollywood-style business playbook.

A Market at an Inflection Point

Rising production costs, unpredictable theatrical revenues and a maturing OTT ecosystem have forced Indian production houses to rethink their business models. The era of financing films on a project-by-project basis is steadily giving way to slate-based planning, IP ownership strategies and balance-sheet-driven growth.

OTT platforms, once aggressive buyers of content at premium valuations, have turned more selective and cost-conscious. Theatrical success has become harder to predict, even for marquee banners. Against this backdrop, equity capital has emerged as a strategic necessity rather than a distress response.

The Excel–UMG and Dharma–Serene deals exemplify two distinct paths to the same objective: scale with sustainability.

Excel Entertainment–Universal Music Group: Strategic Minority, Global Synergy

Universal Music Group’s acquisition of a 30% minority stake in Excel Entertainment for approximately Rs 800 crore represents the largest minority investment in an Indian production house to date. Valued at roughly Rs 2,700 crore, Excel chose to retain majority ownership with founders Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, signalling confidence in its existing business fundamentals.

What makes this deal structurally different is the nature of the investor. Universal Music Group is not a financial backer or a passive shareholder—it is one of the world’s largest entertainment companies, deeply embedded in music publishing, global distribution and artist management.

The partnership is strategically aligned rather than capital-driven alone. Under the agreement, UMG gains global distribution rights for Excel’s future original soundtracks, the two companies will launch a dedicated Excel music label, and Universal Music Publishing Group becomes Excel’s exclusive publishing partner.

For Excel, this is not about shoring up finances or expanding horizontally. It is about deepening monetisation of content IP, especially music—an asset class that increasingly delivers long-tail revenue across streaming, social platforms and international markets.

Crucially, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani retain full creative and operational control, insulating decision-making from short-term commercial pressure while benefiting from UMG’s global infrastructure.

Dharma Productions–Serene Productions: Capital-Led Scale-Up

In contrast, Dharma Productions’ Rs 1,000 crore deal with Serene Productions was explicitly capital-led. By selling 50% of the company, Karan Johar opted for an equal-ownership structure that brought in substantial funds to accelerate transformation from a boutique production house into a multi-vertical content studio.

Unlike Universal, Serene Productions had no prior operating history in entertainment. Backed by Adar Poonawalla, its value proposition lies in financial strength and long-term investment capacity rather than industry synergies.

Johar has been clear that the deal was driven by growth ambitions, not recovery. However, post-deal accountability has altered creative calculus. With an equal partner, profitability has become non-negotiable—a shift Johar himself has acknowledged publicly.

This has direct implications for content risk-taking. Films like Homebound, while critically acclaimed, may become harder to justify in a post-equity environment where capital efficiency and return metrics carry greater weight.

Yet the upside is evident. Since the deal, Dharma has aggressively expanded its ecosystem—launching a distribution arm, fully acquiring its talent management business (now Dharma Collab Artists Agency), strengthening Dharmatic for OTT, expanding ad film production under Dharma 2.0, and laying the groundwork for a music label.

Dharma’s model reflects institutionalisation through capital, rather than strategic convergence.

Saregama and Bhansali: Music Capital Meets Prestige Cinema

The Rs 325 crore investment by Saregama India into Bhansali Productions further reinforces how content IP is being financialised. Structured through compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS), the deal allows Saregama to progressively increase its stake, with a roadmap to majority ownership by 2030.

This is a classic example of content-plus-music integration, where a music label secures premium soundtrack rights from one of India’s most visually and musically distinctive filmmakers. For Bhansali Productions, the deal brings institutional capital without immediate dilution of creative control.

Importantly, this transaction underscores how listed media companies are increasingly using regulated, transparent investment structures to enter film production—adding credibility and governance to the sector.

New Capital, New Studios: The Birla Studios Signal

Beyond acquisitions, greenfield studio launches are also reshaping the market. Entrepreneur Ananya Birla’s launch of Birla Studios reflects a new generation of capital entering filmmaking with a long-term, portfolio-driven mindset.

Birla Studios’ focus on culturally rooted yet commercially viable cinema across Hindi and regional languages signals confidence in content as a scalable business, not just a creative pursuit. Unlike legacy banners evolving under pressure, these new entrants are being built studio-first, with governance, diversification and sustainability embedded from inception.

What These Deals Tell Us About the Indian Content Market

Taken together, these transactions reveal a clear pattern:

• Capital is no longer episodic; it is strategic and long-term
• Minority vs majority stakes reflect different philosophies of growth and control
• Entertainment-native investors bring synergy; financial investors bring scale
• Music IP has emerged as a central monetisation lever
• Studios are being valued as IP platforms, not film factories

India is not replicating Hollywood’s studio system wholesale, but it is selectively adopting its most resilient features—slate financing, IP ownership, cross-platform monetisation and institutional governance.

The Road Ahead

As more production houses weigh equity partnerships, the industry will likely see sharper differentiation. Some studios will prioritise creative independence with strategic minority partners, while others will trade ownership for rapid scale and infrastructure.

What is clear is that the Indian content market has crossed a threshold. The conversation is no longer about individual films, star power or opening weekends. It is about enterprise value, IP longevity and global competitiveness.

In that sense, the Excel–UMG and Dharma–Serene deals are not rivals—they are complementary case studies in how Indian entertainment is learning to think like a business, without losing sight of storytelling as its core asset.