With an average annual growth of no less than 25 per cent, India’s AVGC (Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics) sector can emerge as a $100-billion industry by 2030 from the current $40 billion, speakers at a session at Kochi Design Week (KDW) noted.

With children and adolescents (0-19 age group) forming one-third of its population, India can become a global hub in AVGC this decade even as the sector is wielding increasing influence among adults around the world, they said at the event hosted by Kerala Startup Mission and moderated by Punaryug Artvision Founder Ashish SK.

The optimism is high also because the number of active smartphone users in 5G-ready India is projected to go up from 500 million at present to 900 million by 2025, the experts pointed out during the discussion on the ‘Future of AVGC in India’.

Obstacles ahead

The country, however, suffers from a shortage of talent in AVGC, pointed out Toonz Media Group CEO P Jayakumar. The government needs to work together with the industry and educational institutions to churn out a rich cream of resources in the sector, he suggested.

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Jayakumar said AVGC has been the country’s lone sector that registered steady growth ever since its emergence at the turn of this century.

“It is sure to sustain that pace in the next two decades,” he added, citing the projected strategies of the main stakeholders amid a favourable climate propelled by the 2022-23 Union Budget after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon industry to make India a hub for game developers and related services.

Rajan E of Chennai-based Phantom FX said young filmmakers have begun focusing on visual effects in their works. “Up-and-coming directors know the scope of visual effects in their movies and approach us in the industry to light up those parts,” he pointed out, citing the 2021 Malayalam superhero film ‘Minnal Murali’ as an instance.

Gamitronics CEO, Rajat Ojha, said India’s colourful stories from mythology cater to the growth of AVCG like no other country. “We can be a heavy contributor to the field. This is more so when the world is living in a game now,” he added.

Moderator Ashish, who is also the Chairman of FICCI AVCG-XR Forum, traced the start of AVGC in India from the late 1990s. “From then on, the sector has grown exponentially. Today, AVGC is the single largest vertical of films and TV shows in India,” he noted. “Its growth will further accelerate, given an explosion we see in the web-based content generation today.”

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