Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that the government will set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) promotion task force to unlock the potential in the animation and gaming sector.

During her Union Budget speech, the FM said that the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics sector offers immense potential to employ youth. An AVGC promotion task force with all stakeholders will be set up to recommend ways to realise this and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand," she stated.

Lauding the government's decision to set up an AVGC task force, Paavan Nanda, Co-founder, WinZO said, "We welcome the Finance Minister’s announcement during Budget 2022 to set up an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) task force with the objective of building domestic capacity to serve our markets and global demand. Gaming is a soon-to-be trillion-dollar industry, and it is heartening to see that the Government of India has acknowledged the exponential potential that this sector holds".

"As a giant step towards contributing to the same, WinZO launched the country’s first-ever national-level scholarship program called B.O.S.S (Battle of Super Scholars) and unveiled a $26M Game Developer's fund with an aim to provide a platform to the best minds to disrupt this emerging global gaming industry. WinZO, as a leading game tech company, will be willing to work with public stakeholders to attract the best talent to this growing industry", Nanda added.

Earlier, I&B minister Anurag Thakur had said that the Union government will set up a National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics for creating a world-class talent pool in India to cater to the Indian as well as global industry.

The centre will be set up in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in order to support skilled manpower in the animation and VFX sector.

Commenting on the Budget, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., said, “The holistic focus on broad-based economic recovery in the Union Budget, with a huge emphasis on job creation and digital ecosystem of the country, is a positive for India Inc. at large.”

 “The steps announced to build domestic capacity for animation, visual-effects, gaming and comics segment will certainly help enhance capabilities, enabling the country to compete more effectively at a global stage. An extension in the credit line guarantee scheme is also a welcome move, which will provide some much-needed relief to the relevant sectors which were impacted due to the pandemic,” he said.