Maintaining its stride to remain a front-runner in leveraging the ever-growing business of animation related sectors and to promote employment to those artistically and technically inclined, the State of Karnataka released its much awaited policy on Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC). The Policy was unveiled by Shri B N Bacchegowda, Minister of Labour & Sericulture from C & I Department, Government of Karnataka, today at a city hotel in Bangalore. The event was chaired by Shri M N Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary Department of IT, BT, and S & T of Government of Karnataka.
Karnataka is the first State in India which has come out with a separate policy dedicated to AVGC. Karnataka incidentally also has the distinction of being the first state to have come out with the Semiconductor Policy.
Shri M N Vidyashankar, in his address, said the gaming and animation sector in Karnataka, which has the potential to generate revenues of INR 10,000 crores by the end of 2012, stands to gain a lot of momentum from this new Policy. The new Policy aims at making Karnataka the most preferred destination for AVGC. Karnataka currently has more than 20 training institutes imparting AVGC related training through more than 60 campuses across the State with more than 10,000 students undergoing training.
Karnataka is aiming to spread awareness and provide employment for people in the AVGC sector and bridge the gap between its demand and supply of trained resources. ‘’The policy is an initiative to promote Karnataka as a lucrative outsourcing destination as well as attract Venture Capital funding for new entrants in AVGC sector”, added Shri Vidyashankar.
The announcement of the policy was followed by the Government – Industry panel discussion on the KAVGC Policy in association with Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI) which was moderated by Shri Biren Ghose, ABAI President, and Country Head of Technicolor India.
Marking the Industries’ appreciation for the Policy, Ghose said, “The AVGC Policy is a welcome stimulant which will considerably ‘Turbo- Charge’ this nascent, creative industry and help it realize a significant scale in both international and domestic scenario. Besides media and entertainment, areas such as e-learning, advertising, industrial design and social development projects will also be enabled. The Venture Capital Fund and Digital Art Centers will generate a new generation of opportunities and make Karnataka their hub.”
Meanwhile, the Karnataka AVGC Industry already has the distinction and advantage of having some of the big names of the AVGC Industry such as Technicolor (including DreamWorks dedicated unit), Tata Elxsi, MPC, Dhruva Interactive, Liquid Comics (formerly Virgin Comics), Prime Focus and technology players such as Intel, HP, AMD, Wipro , Adobe, Dell, IBM, Oracle, EMC2 , among others, located within Karnataka. This new policy is well on its way to increase this catchment of players and drive further growth to the AVGC sector.
A slew of events have already been lined up on a sector-specific basis between the IT, BT and S&T Department, in association with ABAI.
For the full copy of the Karnataka Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Policy click here.