The Union Budget had announced the constitution of a Task force on AVGC-XR to identify interventions to build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand. The Task Force is an effort to realise the Prime Minister’s vision of developing the AVGC-XR sector so as to provide immense employment opportunities to the youth who can serve the global market. The AVGC-XR Task Force was constituted under the Chairmanship of the then Secretary, Ministry of I & B, Shri Apurva Chandra, to help realize the full potential of the AVGC-XR sector in India, with key stakeholders from the Industry and the Government. Secretaries of associated Union Ministries viz. Ministry of Skill development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology & Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade were members of this Task Force. It also included members from State Governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana; heads of education bodies such as All India Council of Technical Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training and representatives of industry bodies - Media & Entertainment Skills Council, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Indian Industry.

Further, the Task Force had key industry leaders of AVGC-XR Sector as members, viz. Shri Biren Ghosh (Country Head, Technicolor India); Shri Ashish Kulkarni (Founder, Punaryug Artvision Pvt. Ltd.); Shri Jesh Krishna Murthy (Founder and CEO Anibrain); Shri Keitan Yadav, (COO and VFX Producer, Redchillies VFX); Shri Chaitanya Chinchlikar (Chief Technology Officer, Whistling Woods International); Shri Kishore Kichili (Sr. Vice President and Country Head, Zynga India) and Shri Neeraj Roy (Managing Director and CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment).

Four Sub-Task Forces

Four Sub-Task Forces were constituted for devising strategies of growth through targeted interventions in their respective areas,

  1. Industry & Policy headed by Shri Apurva Chandra, then Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting;
  2. Education headed by Shri Anil Shahashrabudhe, then Chairperson AICTE;
  3. Skilling headed by Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, then Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and;
  4. Gaming headed by Shri Vikram Sahay, then Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Their recommendations have formed the basis of the consolidated report of the Task Force.

1st National Workshop on AVGC-XR

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting organized the First National Workshop and Consultation on Draft AVGC-XR Policies at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, for industry, academia & the government on 18th April, 2023. There was forthcoming participation from several Government bodies of both Centre & State level stakeholders related to AVGC-XR, along with the industry associations & industry leaders of the AVGC-XR sector. The workshop was inaugurated by Shri Apurva Chandra, then Secretary, Ministry of I&B and Chairman AVGC-XR Taskforce. He spoke about the Ministry’s efforts to strengthen the AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comics - Extended Reality) sector in India and emphasised that the States also put in their best efforts to benefit from the growth of the AVGC-XR sector.

Some lighthouse states of AVGC-XR shared their learnings and best practices during the course of the workshop, which is envisaged to provide guidance to other states, including helping them in drafting state-level AVGC-XR policies. The sessions covered during the workshop were envisioned to help states gain clarity on various aspects of the State AVGC-XR policy, thereby enabling them in drafting state level policies. Representatives of various leading companies and industry bodies working in the M&E and AVGC-XR space participated in the workshop and shared their insights on promoting the sector in the country