Gazprom-Media Holding at WAVES-2025: results and prospects

From May 1 to 4, the World Audio-Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 took place in Mumbai. A delegation from Gazprom-Media Holding led by CEO Aleksandr Zharov attended the summit at the invitation of the Indian authorities.

Aleksandr Zharov participated in a round table with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and delivered a report at the summit titled “The Unifying Power of Media Content”. On the sidelines of WAVES 2025, Gazprom-Media Holding signed agreements with Indian companies, opening new opportunities for the Holding to produce quality content. 

Round Table with Narendra Modi

A key event of the summit was the round table with participation of the Prime Minister of India. Aleksandr Zharov thanked Narendra Modi for inviting the Gazprom-Media Holding delegation and emphasized that the creative economy is a traditionally key area of cooperation between Russia and India.  

The round table was attended by CEOs of about 40 media and technology companies from around the world, India’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis.

The Unifying Power of Media Content

Presenting a report, Aleksandr Zharov reminded summit participants that media content has long played an important role in bringing the peoples of Russia and India closer together.

Joint Soviet-Indian films were also popular, so returning to similar practices is a logical and justified step. Aleksandr Zharov spoke about the completion of the Holding’s Korolyok moey lyubvi filming project, a comedy in the best Indian film traditions with a touch of Russian national humor.

The CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding named film distribution and collaborations between bloggers as particularly promising areas of cooperation. Aleksandr Zharov emphasized that the creators at the Insight People agency have extensive experience in implementing collaborations and conducting advertising campaigns that quickly become viral on digital platforms. Meanwhile, RUTUBE could become the central platform for distributing foreign user-generated content in Russia.

Cooperation Agreements

On the sidelines of the summit, Gazprom-Media Holding signed memorandums of cooperation with Indian companies Only Much Louder (OML) and Quantext Media Private Limited.

Only Much Louder is one of India’s leading companies in the field of new media. Aleksandr Zharov noted that the goal of the agreement is to explore opportunities for joint content production, as well as to exchange catalogs of artists and bloggers for joint projects.

OML Director Tushar Kumar called this day “significant for the companies”. According to him, OML’s unique experience and the rich expertise of Gazprom-Media Holding will help create joint in-demand projects.

The memorandum of cooperation with Quantext Media Private Limited involves the possibility of creating joint content and developing the blogosphere. The agreement was signed by Deputy CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding Boris Khanchalyan and head of the Indian company Anurag Srivastava. 

Boris Khanchalyan noted that partnership with India, a country with a unique cultural heritage and one of the fastest-growing creative economies in the world, is of special significance for the Holding. Anurag Srivastava, in turn, emphasized that cooperation with Gazprom-Media Holding is not just a strategic alliance, but an important step towards rethinking how stories can transcend borders.

Quantext Media Private Limited is a leading Indian company in the field of artist management, event organization, and content production.

Representatives from more than 90 countries participated in the summit. Among them were content producers and distributors, media companies, media outlets, and startup representatives, as well as political figures.