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The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) industry is a rapidly growing sector in Media and Entertainment (M&E) space. One-fourth of the M&E sector in India comprises AVGC, which is further expected to see a 10X growth in coming 4-5 years, said Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, at the Indian Gaming Convention on Monday, October 14, 2024.
"Currently, the AVGC segment is $3 billion industry and we expect it to become $30 billion industry in coming 4-5 years. The segment currently has three lakh professionals. In future, we expect AVGC sector to create employment opportunities," Jaju said. He further added that the technological advancement is one of the crucial reasons for the growth of this segment, affordable internet and smartphone penetration being the other reasons. Jaju highlighted that the country currently has 100 crore smartphone users and 63% of them are the between the age bracket of 15 and 64 years.
Jaju said that AVGC is the future of our economy and a reflection of our culture and heritage to the world. "We have the vibrant tapestry of our culture, language and traditions. It is this diversity which is going to be a huge trend when it comes to exploiting the entire AVGC sector including gaming," he added. He also quoted Walt Disney saying animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive.
Talking about the Indian gaming and esports sector, he said that it is one of the fastest growing segment with around 500 million mobile gamers in the country. "India has the potential to become the hub for global gaming, not only amongst gamers but amongst developers and publishers too."
He further said that in the latest development, the government of India is going to set up the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) in Mumbai. It will be an apex institution for incubating new companies in this space and will open a new door for creating a supply chain. In addition to this, the government is also looking forward to come up with 'Create in India' mission that will provide financial and non-financial support to AVGC sector.