The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has constituted an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force.

Headed by Secretary I&B, Task Force will submit its first action plan within 90 days. Task Force has representation from Industry, Academia and State Governments.

“The AVGC Promotion Task Force will be headed by Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and will have Secretaries of Ministry 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 Ministry said on Friday.

It will have widespread participation of Industry partners viz. Biren Ghosh, Country Head, Technicolor India; Ashish Kulkarni, Founder, Punaryug Artvision Pvt. Ltd.; Jesh Krishna Murthy, Founder and CEO Anibrain; Keitan Yadav, COO and VFX Producer, Redchillies VFX; Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Chief Technology Officer, Whistling Woods International; Kishore Kichili, Sr. Vice President and Country Head, Zynga India and Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment.

“The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector in India has the potential to become the torchbearer of “Create in India” & “Brand India”. India has the potential to capture 5% (~$40 billion) of the global market share by the year 2025, with an annual growth of around 25-30% and creating over 1,60,000 new jobs annually,” the Ministry said.

To further unleash the scope of the AVGC sector, an announcement was made in the Union Budget 2022-23 for setting up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force to recommend ways to realise and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand.

In pursuance of the announcement made in the Union Budget 2022-23, an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force has been constituted to promote the AVGC sector in the country under the aegis of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Ministry said.

The AVGC Promotion Task Force also includes State Governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, 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.

The creation of an AVGC Promotion Task Force with the participation of the Government of India, 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 Terms of Reference of the Task Force include framing a national AVGC policy, recommending a national curriculum framework for Graduation, Post-Graduation and Doctoral courses in AVGC related sectors, facilitating skilling initiatives in collaboration with academic institutions, vocational training centres & Industry, boosting employment opportunities, facilitate promotion and market development activities to extend the global reach of the Indian AVGC Industry and enhance exports and recommend incentives to attract FDI in AVGC sector.

“The AVGC Promotion Task Force will submit its first action plan within 90 days,” the Ministry said.