According to the report of the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force, a national AVGC-Extended Reality Mission with a budget outlay is to be created for integrated promotion and growth of the sector.
AVGC
While the word’s etymology refers to everything related to Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics, the overarching term refers to all of the sub-sectors that contribute to India’s digital economy.
This includes-
- Animation Studios
- VFX Studios
- Game Development Studios
- Platforms
- Hardware Manufacturers
- Software developers
- Virtual Production Studios and many more entities
- The sector saw immense growth with technological adoption as is, but it witnessed steep uptake with the onset of the pandemic.
AVGC sector
- Emerging sector: The global AVGC industry is worth $800 billion, and the Indian AVGC sector has the potential to capture up to 5% of the global share ($40 billion).
- India’s IT prowess: India currently contributes approximately $2.5-3 billion to the estimated $260-275 billion global AVGC market.
- Availability of skilled labor: According to industry experts, the Indian market, which currently employs approximately 1.85 lakh AVGC professionals, will grow by 14-16% over the next decade.
- Employment generation: Not only does the sector contribute significantly to the economy, but it also creates a plethora of employment opportunities for a variety of skilled sectors, with over 160,000 jobs potentially available each year.
Key recommendations by the task force
- “Create in India” campaign focuses solely on content creation
- In academic institutions, AVGC accelerators and innovation hubs will be established.
- Democratizing AVGC technologies through subscription-based pricing models for MSME, startups, and Institutions; Indigenous technology development through incentive schemes and Intellectual Property creation; and Establishing a dedicated production fund for domestic content creation from across India to promote the country’s culture and heritage globally.
- Memorandum of Understanding with developed global AVGC markets such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Germany, among others.
Way ahead
- Policy vision: Because of the wide range of sub-sectors that are amassing under AVGC’s broad umbrella, a broad vision is required to help further incubate this industry.
- Upskilling: The sector requires not only financing and resource allocation, but also education and talent development.
- Collaboration: The gaming, VFX, and animation markets, for example, in the United States and South Korea, have been heavily incubated, and are thus at the crest of the wave on a global scale today.
@the end
If given the right environment to grow in, especially one that covers all bases, the Indian AVGC sector has the potential to become the pinnacle of Digital India and the hallmark of the PM’s ‘Brand India’ dream.
Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/dec/27/avgc-task-force-suggests-measures-to-make-india-animation-gaming-content-hub-2532219.html