Task force recommends National Centre of Excellence for AVGC industry

The recommendations include the setting up of a National AVGC-XR Mission with a budget outlay, and a ‘Create in India’ campaign

In their report, a task force on Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR), constituted by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has asked for a budgetary outlay, which they say will help boost growth in the industry. The task force, which submitted its report to I&B minister Anurag Thakur, has recommended a National Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the AVGC industry which could help in skilling, education, industry development and research and innovation.

The task force, which was announced during the Budget 2022-23 speech to explore opportunities to build a homegrown capability for the sector, was chaired by I&B secretary Apurva Chandra who said that India has the potential to become a world leader in the AVGC sector similar to its prowess in the IT sector. Chandra said that they submitted their report to Thakur on December 22.

Some of the recommendations by the task force include the setting up of a National AVGC-XR Mission with a budget outlay, and a ‘Create in India’ campaign with exclusive focus on content creation, and the setting up of an institute with focus on FDI and co-production treaties. The task force has also asked for tax benefits to the sector, as well as import duties in addition to technical, financial and market access assistance to entrepreneurs to promote R&D.

Apart from that, the task force has also asked for a dedicated production fund for domestic content creation, reservation for high-quality indigenous content by broadcasters, special incentives for women entrepreneurs, promotion of children’s channels and the establishment of a framework to ensure child rights protection in the digital world.

Other members of the task force include secretaries of the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, the department of higher education, the IT ministry as well as the department for promotion of industry and internal trade. Additionally, officials from the Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana state governments; the heads of education bodies such as All India Council of Technical Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training, as well as representatives of industry bodies like MESC, FICCI and CII, were part of the force.

As per estimates, India contributes as much as 2.5 to 3 billion dollars of the estimated 260 to 275 billion dollars to the AVGC sector. The government said that the sector has the potential of a growth rate of 14-16 per cent in the next decade, and that currently, over 1.85 lakh professionals are employed in the AVGC sector. “The sector would employ approximately another 20-lakh individuals by 2030 to sustain its growth,” a release by the government read.