[Edaily Reporter YUN GI BACK ] K-pop is seeking new growth opportunities in India, the world’s most populous country. Building on the high level of favorability toward Korean cultural content and the growing local live performance market, efforts to convert online-based fan bases into paying concertgoers are gaining momentum.

According to the “2026 Overseas Hallyu Survey” conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, 83.8% of respondents in India who had experienced Korean cultural content expressed a favorable impression. This is the second-highest rate among the 30 regions surveyed, trailing only the Philippines (87%), and exceeds the overall average (69.7%) by 14.1 percentage points.
It remains to be seen whether this high level of favorability toward the Korean Wave will translate into actual demand for live performances. HYBE will host the “WeverseCon Festival” in New Delhi on March 27–28 of next year. The event will feature K-pop artists such as Tomorrow X Together (TXT), ENHYPEN, LE SSERAFIM, and Hwasa, alongside local Indian artists. The company is also partnering with the local concert and ticketing platform BookMyShow.
This concert serves as a litmus test for the growth potential of the Indian K-pop market. It will reveal to what extent the fandom—which has been built primarily around music and video content—will translate into actual ticket purchases. Festivals featuring multiple artists also have the advantage of attracting a broader audience than solo concerts by individual groups.
A HYBE India representative stated, “Leading musicians from the Korean and Indian pop music scenes have joined WeverseCon Festival India in large numbers,” adding, “We will maximize HYBE’s global concert planning and production capabilities to foster musical exchange between the two countries and bring together the enthusiasm of fans.”
The local live entertainment market is also growing rapidly. According to analyses by global accounting and consulting firm EY and others, India’s organized live events market is projected to expand from approximately 120 billion rupees (about 1.6776 trillion won) in 2024 to approximately 202 billion rupees (about 2.8239 trillion won) in 2027. K-pop, too, has an opportunity to capture new demand in this growing live performance market.
However, high favorability toward the Korean Wave does not guarantee the success of live performances. Since this survey targeted individuals who have experienced Korean content, its results cannot be interpreted as reflecting the preferences of the entire Indian population. Income disparities between major cities and rural areas, sensitivity to ticket prices, and infrastructure issues—such as the availability of large-scale performance venues—are also variables affecting market expansion. This is why securing a consumer base capable of actually purchasing tickets is more important than the sheer size of the population, which exceeds 1.4 billion.
A music industry official stated, “India has been a market where the number of large-scale concerts has been relatively low compared to the level of interest in K-pop and the size of its fanbase,” adding, “This WeverseCon will serve as an opportunity to gauge how much of K-pop’s online popularity translates into actual ticket purchases.”