The Finance Minister said India’s AVGC sector is projected to require nearly two million professionals by 2030, prompting the government to roll out structured interventions to build a robust talent pipeline. Central to this strategy is enhanced support for the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), which will spearhead a nationwide AVGC skilling initiative.
Under the proposed plan, IICT will lead the establishment of AVGC Content Creator Labs across 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, aimed at nurturing grassroots talent and equipping students with creative and technical skills across animation, visual effects, gaming and storytelling disciplines.
“These labs will play a pivotal role in meeting the workforce needs of our burgeoning creative industries while enabling India to export IP and creative services across the world,” Sitharaman said, underlining the government’s focus on combining creativity with technology-led skill development.
The Budget announcement builds on the growing momentum in India’s media and entertainment ecosystem, where high-end visual effects and animation have become central to mainstream storytelling. Big-budget franchises such as Baahubali and RRR demonstrated the commercial and creative potential of VFX-led narratives, paving the way for a new wave of fantasy and historical cinema.
According to the FICCI-EY 2024 report, India now has the second-largest anime fan base globally and is expected to contribute around 60% of global growth in anime interest in the coming years, reinforcing the case for deeper investment in AVGC skills and infrastructure.
IICT was first announced in 2024 as the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) and is now being developed with a total allocation of ₹391.15 crore. Modelled on the lines of IITs and IIMs for creative technologies, the institute is operating from the NFDC campus in Mumbai and follows an industry-oriented curriculum aligned with global best practices under a public–private partnership model.
The institute has launched 17 specialised academic programmes across gaming, post-production, animation, comics and XR, and is addressing skill gaps in virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D modelling through applied research and industry-aligned training. IICT has also entered into partnerships with global technology and media companies including Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and WPP for curriculum co-development, mentorship and access to advanced tools.
Beyond skilling, IICT is positioned as a hub for startup incubation and IP creation, helping Indian creative technology startups connect with global studios, investors and markets, in line with the government’s broader “Create in India” and “Brand India” objectives.
The Budget push fits into a wider policy framework for creative technologies. Following the setting up of the AVGC Promotion Task Force in 2022, the government has backed Centres of Excellence, export-focused initiatives and global platforms such as WAVES 2025, which brought together international buyers, investors and creators across film, animation, gaming, VFX and XR.
More recently, IICT signed an MoU with YouTube to collaborate on skill development, AI-led creative tools and digital capacity building, further strengthening industry–academia linkages.
