AVGC Task Force To Promote Brand India

Implementing the Union Budget decision, an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force has been constituted with representatives from the centre, states and industry with the aim to place India at the forefront of content creation while promoting the AVGC sector in the country.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary will head the task force, which will submit its first action plan within 90 days.

According to the I&B Ministry, the creation of an AVGC Promotion Task Force with participation of Government of India, state governments and key industry players will provide focused thrust for the growth of the sector by driving the institutional efforts to guide the policies of growth for this sector, establish standards for AVGC education in India, actively collaborate with industry and international AVGC institutes, and enhance the global positioning of the Indian AVGC industry.

The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic sector in India has the potential to become the torch bearer of “Create in India” and “Brand India”.

India has the potential to capture 5 per cent (~$40 billion) of the global market share by the year 2025, with an annual growth of around 25-30 per cent and creating over 1,60,000 new jobs annually.

In order to further unleash the scope of AVGC sector, an announcement was made in the Union Budget 2022-23 for setting up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Promotion Task Force to recommend ways to realise and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand.

The AVGC Promotion Task Force shall be headed by the Information and Broadcasting Secretary and will have secretaries of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Higher Education, Education, Electronics and Information Technology and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

It will have widespread participation of industry partners including Biren Ghosh, Country Head, Technicolor India; Ashish Kulkarni, Founder, Punaryug Artvision Pvt. Ltd.; Jesh Krishna Murthy, Founder and CEO Anibrain; Keitan Yadav, COO and VFX Producer, Redchillies VFX; Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Chief Technology Officer, Whistling Woods International; Kishore Kichili, Sr. Vice President and Country Head, Zynga India and Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment.

The AVGC Promotion Task Force also includes state governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana; heads of education bodies such as All India Council of Technical Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training and representatives of industry bodies-MESC, FICCI and CII.

The Terms of Reference of the Task Force include framing of a national AVGC policy, recommend national curriculum framework for Graduation, Postgraduate and Doctoral courses in AVGC related sectors, facilitate skilling initiatives in collaboration with academic institutions, vocational training centers and industry, boost employment opportunities, facilitate promotion and market development activities to extend global reach of Indian AVGC Industry and enhance exports and recommend incentives to attract FDI in AVGC sector.