Netflix to invest Rs 3000 crore in Indian original content | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
July 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025
Netflix to invest Rs 3000 crore in Indian original content

Glitz

Hindustan Times
07 December, 2019, 02:40 pm
Last modified: 07 December, 2019, 04:34 pm

Related News

  • Tesla to open first India store on 15 July in Mumbai 
  • Air India jet's fuel switches in focus, as crash preliminary report nears
  • Indian textile stocks surge as US slaps 35% tariff on Bangladesh exports
  • Relief for rupee after India left out of US tariff hike; Asia shrugs off Trump move
  • Family members of Indians deported into Bangladesh seek return, lodge police diary

Netflix to invest Rs 3000 crore in Indian original content

Netflix CEO revealed that 'Mighty Little Bheem' has been viewed by 27 million households outside India.

Hindustan Times
07 December, 2019, 02:40 pm
Last modified: 07 December, 2019, 04:34 pm
Netflix to invest Rs 3000 crore in Indian original content

Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced that the streaming service will spend Rs 3000 crore 'this year and next' on producing original content in India. Hastings was speaking at the 17th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Friday.

Netflix launched in India in 2016, and has since invested in local content in Hindi and other local languages. "Sacred Games travelled all over the world," Hastings told HT editor-in-chief R Sukumar, tipping his hat to the streamer's first Indian original series, developed by Vikramaditya Motwane. He also revealed that the animated children's show Mighty Little Bheem has been viewed by 27 million households outside India. "People like babies in many countries," Hastings offered as an explanation.

Hastings also mentioned the third season of the comedy-drama Little Things, which debuted on November 9. "Delhi Crime is one of our biggest series," he said, acknowledging the success of the gritty crime drama, created by Ritchie Mehta and inspired by the December 2012 gang-rape case in New Delhi. "Some people said, we shouldn't tell that story," he said, "but we're really committed to artistic freedom."

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Netflix has over 160 million subscribers around the world, and although Hastings didn't reveal how many Indian subscribers the service has, he admitted that these are 'early days'. The service faces competition in India from rival companies such as Amazon and Hotstar, with Apple, Disney and others looking to make inroads into what is largely considered a booming market for streaming. "If we have amazing content from around the world, people are willing to pay for that," Hastings said, mentioning the subsidized prices the company has introduced in the region.

"In the US, cable television costs about $75. Here it's bout $3-5," Hastings said. "In the US, people pay $50 for mobile phone access. Pricing is very low here, and the market is very large. That's why our Rs 199 a month pricing is very competitive."

"I think every country is wrestling with some aspects of the internet. Some people think that the broadcast standards should be applied to YouTube or Netflix or Amazon, but it doesn't really make sense," Hastings said, adding that the key difference between traditional TV and streaming is that with online entertainment, content isn't 'pushed into everybody's home'.

Hastings said that the 'most pragmatic approach' would be to self-regulate, keeping in mind different cultures' preferences. "We have to comply with all the local laws," he said, citing the examples of Sacred Games and the UK show Sex Education, which is available even in Saudi Arabia that recently made the streaming service remove an episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act, which was critical towards Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

"With entertainment, there's always going to be some controversy," Hastings said, but Netflix's agenda, he said, is 'to try to be better than anyone else to please you. It's our job to earn your viewing'.

Netflix began as a rental service where customers could order films off a website and have DVDs delivered to their homes, but in recent years has evolved into one of the largest streaming services (and production studios) in the world.

He is known for having fostered innovative workplace culture at Netflix, where employees are offered the choice between cash and stock compensation. Under his leadership, the streamer has made breakthroughs in the marketplace, having accumulated over 150 million paying subscribers in over 190 countries.

Hastings has said that India is a key market in the company's future, and that he intends on every smartphone user in the country to have the Netflix app installed on their device. The streamer's disruptive model is said to have changed the face of the film industry, with several major studios investing heavily in creating their own streaming apps in direct competition to Netflix.

Hastings is also an active educational philanthropist and served on the California State Board of Education from 2000 to 2004.

 

 

netflix / India / Reed Hastings

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image
    In addition to 35% tariff, US demands 40% local value addition for 'Made in Bangladesh' goods
  • Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients
    Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients
  • Photo: Courtesy
    4 arrested, 2 remanded over brutal killing of trader near Mitford Hospital

MOST VIEWED

  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: Girls dominate boys by over 5%
  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • The overall pass rate across all boards this year, 68.45%, is significantly lower than last year's. Photo: Focus Bangla
    SSC 2025: Rajshahi board records highest pass rate, Barishal lowest
  • How S Alam’s Global Islami Bank cooked Tk2,259cr loss into Tk128cr profit
    How S Alam’s Global Islami Bank cooked Tk2,259cr loss into Tk128cr profit
  • Representational image. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: 73.63% pass rate among technical students, 68.09% at Madrasahs
  • Economist Abul Barkat; Photo: Courtesy
    Economist Abul Barkat arrested in graft case

Related News

  • Tesla to open first India store on 15 July in Mumbai 
  • Air India jet's fuel switches in focus, as crash preliminary report nears
  • Indian textile stocks surge as US slaps 35% tariff on Bangladesh exports
  • Relief for rupee after India left out of US tariff hike; Asia shrugs off Trump move
  • Family members of Indians deported into Bangladesh seek return, lodge police diary

Features

Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients

Kunming rising: China's emerging healthcare hub draws Bangladeshi patients

9h | Panorama
Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

1d | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

1d | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Renowned economist Abul Barkat imprisoned

Renowned economist Abul Barkat imprisoned

8h | TBS Today
All of Iran's uranium still intact, Israel claims

All of Iran's uranium still intact, Israel claims

7h | TBS World
Trump-Netanyahu in new strategy on Gaza issue

Trump-Netanyahu in new strategy on Gaza issue

9h | TBS World
Shocking science: why birds stay safe on electricity lines

Shocking science: why birds stay safe on electricity lines

10h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net