Karnataka is the first state in the country to formulate such a policy.
The state government on Wednesday released the animation, visual effects, gaming & comics (AVGC) policy. With this, Karnataka has become the first state in the country to have a policy to promote the AVGC sector.
The sector, which has the potential to generate revenues to the tune of `10,000 crore by the end of 2012, stands to get a major fillip from this policy. “The new policy aims at making Karnataka the most preferred and lucrative outsourcing destination, as well as attracting venture capital funding for new entrants in the AVGC sector,” said MN Vidyashankar, state principal secretary, department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka.
The state currently has 20 training institutes imparting AVGC related training through more than 60 campuses.
“The institutes are offering training in AVGC to about 10,000 students. The policy aims to spread awareness and provide employment to the educated youth for bridging the demand-supply of skilled resources,” Vidyashankar said.
According to Biren Ghose, president, Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI), and country head, Technicolor India, the government will identify 10 art schools and fund each with
`10 lakh to digitise the art teaching process.
“The policy will drive the growth of media and entertainment, e-learning, advertising, industrial design and social development projects. The venture capital fund and digital art centres will generate opportunities and make the state an AVGC hub,” Ghose added.
“The sector has a large scale employment possibility. There is a huge opportunity for rural artists of Karnataka as most of the art schools are situated in the smaller districts of the state,” he said.
Minister of labour and sericulture, C&I department, BN Bachche Gowda, said the government will do its best to assist the sector in terms of infrastructure.
“The sector is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10% across the world. When compared to the global market, the industry in India is growing at a CAGR of 22%. Bangalore is catering to Hollywood film industry, which outsources its key animation and special effects in production.
Hence, I feel there is a big opportunity,” he said.
“Karnataka is the first state in the country to formulate a separate policy on AVGC with a view to making the state a preferred destination in the new sunrise sector,” Gowda said.
Meanwhile, according to Vidyashankar, the government also intends to come out with a policy that will encourage contracted or outsourced payment.
“The policy should be a boost for people undertaking research. Karnataka has about 38,000 PhD holders, of whom about 21,000 are conducting active research. Hopefully, they would benefit from this,” said Vidyashankar.
Among the noted firms in the AVGC sector operating in this tech hub are Techicolor with DreamWorks as its dedicated unit, Tata Elxsi, MPC, Dhruva Interactive, Liquid Comics, Prime Focus and global majors such as Intel, HP, AMD, Wipro, Adobe, Dell, IBM, Oracle and EMC.
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