Hybe, which manages BTS and Seventeen and Enhypen, will open its first office in India in September or October 2025, its fifth base in the world after Japan, the US, Latin America and China. The relocation is part of the plan by chairman Bang Si-hyuk, who aims to translate the established K-pop production model, which involves talent identification and development, song production and audience engagement, to local fans.
India, with a population of 1.4 billion people and one of the most rapid entertainment industries suggests excellent opportunities to the Hybe so-called multi-home, multi-genre policy. Localized music groups and marketing can assist K-pop in breaking out of its 3 percent share of the global music market and start competing with other emerging genres, such as Latin pop and Afrobeats, according to the company.
Mixed results are achieved by multinational experiments by Hybe. The girl group Katseye, managed by Hybe America, debuted in the US in 2024 and had singles break into the Billboard Hot 100 and UK charts, but still retained a small degree of exposure outside of the K-pop fandom. In Japan, localized audition shows, Hybe groups &Team and Aoen have both reached the top of Oricon charts and sold million copies, going multi-platinum. Its branch in Latin America is held since 2023 and it is currently holding talent searches and reality TV shows to produce the first K-pop-trained Latin boy band.
The India expansion indicates that Hybe is focused on creating local talent as opposed to merely exporting Korean artists. But critics are concerned that dropping the K out of K-pop would water-down the distinctiveness. The proponents cite the potential of opening new markets that are not yet tapped, whereas the critics raise alarm over the prospects of K-pop losing its unique voice which has been founded on its Korean aesthetic, staging and composition.
Until sometime in the future, Hybe is planning to stake on cultural adaptation as the new battleground in terms of global music dominance. Should its Indian venture fulfill the objective, it may set a new definition of what K-pop may mean to the world stage.
