Focusing on the gaming industry of India, Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting stated that Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) segment is currently a $3 billion industry, and is expected to grow 10 times in the next four to five years and close to a $30 billion industry.
Jaju said, “We look at India to be positioned as a hub for global gaming and a preferred destination for global gaming developers and publishers. We want to position India as a global leader in content creation, innovation and intellectual property. Our country is a harmonious blend of multiple languages, and it is this diversity which is going to be our key strength when it comes to exploiting the entire AVGC XR segment, including the games.”
Speaking about mainstreaming gaming he added, “I just keep saying that we are making a lot of efforts to ensure that this segment is mainstream, it is not used in a negative sense and brings dignity to this entire segment, because this is actually the fastest growing segment.”
“On behalf of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, I would like to urge all of you, all the stakeholders like large corporations to small time innovators to educational institutions and to people like us, it is time for us to come together and collaborate. And we will all require this as a collective effort. Our individual efforts will take us some steps up but if we have to achieve this larger outcome will have to march together,” he added.
Speaking about the growth of the gaming sector, he explained that the gaming sector has been witnessing explosive growth. From being limited to PCs and console games in the early 2000s, now mobile gaming has become the mainstay. And in India alone there are more than 500 billion gamers.
“When we have so much consumption, we also have huge possibilities to lead in the digital content creation,” he said.
While bringing the gaming industry and its potential to create jobs to the spotlight, Jaju added, “Close to about three lakh professionals are involved and we expect this segment to create employment opportunities, direct employment opportunities for more than 20 lakh professionals in the next five to seven years.”
Talking of government initiatives, he added, “The government has announced a centre of excellence called the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies to be set up in Mumbai. This will be an apex institution which will not just help address the skill gaps but will also help us spawn new companies, provide space for incubating new companies and create a supply chain of companies that thrive in this particular segment.”
“Besides, the Create in India mission can help us take this entire effort through financial and non-financial support that might be required for the growth of this particular segment. The government also plans to launch The World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in India in February 2025,” he said.
He explained the above during a special address titled “Examining the AVGC Growth Story of India” at the second edition of the Indian Gaming Convention (IGC). The two-day convention was organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, on October 14 and 15, at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. The theme for IGC 2024- India- the Next Superpower in Gaming, reflects India’s journey to being a global leader in gaming.
Furthermore, Meta is the Title Partner of the convention. Among major partners of IGC 2024 are, Gold Partners- Salesforce and Veve; Silver Partners- Google Cloud & Bureau; Lanyard partner- Moloco; GameTech Enabler- Singhtek, and Knowledge Partner- PWC.
