Government sets up AVGC promotion task force to tap potential $800 billion animation, gaming industry

AVGC stands for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force to suggest ways to enable Indian players in the sector to tap at least 5% of $800 billion (approx. Rs 60.61 lakh crore) industry.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra will head the panel, which has five top Secretaries and seven top business heads as members among others.

The Task Force, which also includes state governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana, heads of education bodies such as the All India Council of Technical Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training, and representatives of industry bodies MESC, FICCI, and CII, will submit its first action plan within 90 days.

The creation of the Task Force comes two months after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced its setting up in her budget speech on February 1 to realise and build domestic capacity for serving Indian markets and global demand.

The AVGC sector in India has the potential to become the torchbearer of 'Create in India' and 'Brand India', an official statement said.

India has the potential to capture 5% (around USD 40 billion- approx. Rs 3.03 lakh crore) of the global market share by 2025, with an annual growth of around 25-30% and creating over 1.60 lakh new jobs annually, it said.

The Terms of Reference of the task force include framing a national AVGC policy, recommending a national curriculum framework for graduation, postgraduate and doctoral courses in AVGC related sectors, facilitating skilling initiatives in collaboration with academic institutions, vocational training centres, and industry, and boosting employment opportunities.

It also includes facilitating promotion and market development activities to extend the global reach of the Indian AVGC industry, enhancing exports, and recommending incentives to attract FDI in the AVGC sector.

The creation of a task force with the participation of union government, state governments, and key industry players will provide a 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 statement said.

While the Information and Broadcasting Secretary heads the task force, the committee will have Secretaries in the Ministries of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

The members from the industry are Technicolor India head Biren Ghosh, Punaryug Artvision founder Ashish Kulkarni, Anibrain Founder, and CEO Jesh Krishna Murthy, Redchillies VFX Chief Operating Officer Keitan Yadav, Whistling Woods International Chief Technology Officer Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Zynga India Senior Vice President and Country Head Kishore Kichili and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Managing Director and CEO Neeraj Roy.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: