India’s Media and Entertainment sector has become one of the country’s fastest-growing industries and is projected to cross one hundred billion US dollars by 2030. Economically, the Media and Entertainment sector contributes significantly to value addition and job creation, with its gross value-added share steadily increasing over the last decade. The country offers a 40 to 60 percent cost advantage in animation and VFX services, supported by a large, skilled workforce.
The creative economy of the country has entered a transformative phase with the formal recognition of the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) sector as a key driver of growth. The policy journey gained momentum in 2022 with the constitution of the AVGC Promotion Task Force, established to formulate a comprehensive national strategy for nurturing country’s AVGC-XR ecosystem as a global hub for creative technology and digital content production. The Task Force’s report projected the creation of around 20 lakh direct and indirect jobs in the coming ten years, while estimating that the sector could contribute to India’s GDP through production, exports, and allied services.
Complementing national initiatives, several states are advancing the AVGC-XR vision through targeted policies and institutional frameworks. Karnataka has been one of the firsts to implement a dedicated AVGC-XR Policy 2024-2029, focusing on skilling, incubation, and global market competitiveness. Maharashtra has also taken significant steps with the approval of its AVGC-XR Policy 2025 in September this year, backed by a financial plan of more than three thousand 200 crore rupees including a long-term roadmap extending to 2050. The policy seeks to attract investments, create employment opportunities, and strengthen state-level production infrastructure through dedicated clusters and training initiatives.
Furthermore, the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies is reshaping creative education through global partnerships with Netflix, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA and others, building a world-class talent ecosystem. India’s technological evolution in this sector reflects a decade-long progression from experimentation to excellence.
