Karnataka unveils animation policy to woo investments
Tech-savvy Karnataka on Wednesday unveiled a special policy on animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) to attract investments and generate employment for thousands of educated youth in the sunrise sector.
"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," state Labour Minister B.N. Bacchegowda said while releasing the new policy.
According to M.N. Vidyashankar, IT, biotech and science and technology principal secretary, Karnataka has the potential to generate Rs.10,000 crore (Rs.100 billion) in the AVGC sector by this year-end.
"The state already has 20 institutes 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.
Though India is projected to account for just $2.2 billion in revenue in the global animation industry, estimated to generate $153 billion, its cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) at 22 percent is twice that of the global average at 10 percent CAGR.
"The policy is an initiative to promote the state as a lucrative outsourcing destination and attract venture capital funding in the AVGC sector," Vidyashankar observed.
Lauding the state government's initiative, Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI) president Biren Ghose said the policy would turbo-charge the nascent creative sector and help it to achieve scale in domestic and international markets.
"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 said.
Among the noted firms in the AVGC sector operating in this tech hub are Techicolor with DreamWorks as its dedicated unit, Tata Elxi, 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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