Union Budget 2022: AVGC Taskforce To Be Set Up To Boost Employability In Animation Industry

While presenting the Union Budget 2022 for the financial year 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that in partnership with the AICTE, an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) task force will be set up to recommend ways to upskill and employ youth in the booming animation industry.

“An AVGC promotion task force, with all stakeholders, will be set up to recommend ways to realise this and build domestic capacity for serving out markets and the global demand,” Sitharaman said during the budget announcement. The animation, visual effects, gaming and comic (AVGC) sector offers immense potential to employ youth, she added.

While the animation industry is not a novel segment, it had often flown under the radar despite much of the world’s biggest animated movies and action-packed blockbusters passing through India — because it is a major outsourcing hub.

Some Indicating Numbers From The Animation Industry In India

• The total animation, VFX and post-production segment grew 18% in 2018 to reach INR 7,890 Cr and is expected to reach INR 12,900 Cr in 2023
• According to a BCG and CII report, the Indian animation and visual effects industry currently commands 10% of the global market share and has the potential to reach 20-25% by 2025
• The Indian Gaming industry is estimated to go up to over INR 14,300 Cr by 2022

For over the last two decades, visual effects and animation studios dotted around Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Trivandrum, and Hyderabad. Many of these production houses have put finishing touches on Hollywood mega projects such as ‘Life of Pi’ and the ‘Jungle Book’. The life-like dragons from Game Of Thrones were also created by around 800 Indian animators.

The stakeholders of the segment will include production houses that outsource the visual needs, the AVGC studios, the institutes and organisations focussed on upskilling Indians in the segment and the animators. Currently, the animation industry is not only under-recognised but also marred with unorganised pay scales, underskilled animators and fewer opportunities to scale without the support of international production houses.

Interestingly, only last week the Karnataka government launched an AVGC Center of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru consisting of a high technology digital media hub. This is India’s first and Asia’s largest AVGC centre and is funded by the Department of Electronics Information Technology Biotechnology and Science & Technology.

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