Mumbai: The government has proposed to set up a specialised task force for the promotion of the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) industry. The announcement was made by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the annual budget 2022 on Tuesday.
"Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector offers immense potential to employ youth. An AVGC promotion task force with all stakeholders will be set up to recommend ways to realise this and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand," said Sitharaman.
The announcement was welcomed by the industry, with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) hailing it as a big win for the sector.
FICCI chairman - AVGC XR Forum and Punnaryug Artvision founder Ashish SK said that the budget announcement of the formation of task force for AVGC Promotion has come at the most appropriate time. "After setting a strong foundation in the last two decades the Indian AVGC - XR is poised to grow phenomenally in coming decade. The creative skills from India needs nurturing to a great extend to enable the growth of the sector. Setting up of a task force will definitely bring in a great focus on positioning Indian AVGC sector for services exports, co-productions, growth of Indigenous intellectual property and its consumption patterns within India and overseas," he said.
According to industry representatives, the Indian AVGC - XR sector is expected to have a major share of the media and entertainment industry. The horizon and use cases of AVGC - XR verticals have expanded beyond its day-to-day defined utility in architecture, life science, legal, education, industrial, urban planning, sports, digital universe, metaverse etc apart from media & entertainment.
"The AVGC task force is a huge step by the government to promote the sector. We wholeheartedly welcome it and FICCI AVGC-XR Forum will continue to work closely with the government on various policy initiatives to realise the growth potential of the Industry. This industry vertical has tremendous scope for employment generation and exports," said FICCI co-chairman - AVGC- XR Forum, and Graphiti Studio founder Munjal Shroff.
In its latest report released last month, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) had also projected that India’s media and entertainment industry which is currently valued at around $27 billion is all set to grow at 10-12 per cent CAGR to become a $55-70 billion industry by 2030. The report had also highlighted that the industry's next phase of growth will be led by OTT, gaming, VFX and animation.
The finance minister said the union budget seeks to lay a foundation and give blueprint of the economy over the next 25 years - from India at 75 to India at 100.
