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The Karnataka Audio, Visual-Effects and Gaming Summit 2010 organized by Government of Karnataka in association with ABAI (Association of Bangalore Animation Industry), held on April 23, 2010, centered around the huge potential the state offers to be an animation hub subsequently contributing to the state revenue.
Karnataka currently has 20 institutes, training 10,000 students and this figure is slated to be 25,000 by 2012, according to Balakrishna M.R., President, ABAI. Moreover, Karnataka has 25 production studios developing content for Hollywood as well. “The state government has the capability to make Karnataka a hub for VFX and animation,” said Balakrishna.
Citing industry statistics, he mentioned that while the global market for animation in 2009 was valued at $68 billion, India stood at only $0.49 billion. However, by 2012, this figure is speculated to touch $100 billion and $1 billion for the global and Indian markets, respectively. Similarly for gaming, the 2009 figures were at $36 billion for the global market and $0.16 billion for the Indian market. This is expected to grow to $53.6 billion (global) and $0.83 billion (India). “Currently the gaming sector has 2,300 professionals and this will touch 10,700 by 2012,” added Balakrishna.
Speaking on the Karnataka AVG Industry and Policy initiatives he suggested the industry required right creative aptitude, which in turn meant students needed exposure in a finishing school and the industry requires an incubation facility to tap the potential.
Substantiating his view was A.P. Parigi, Member, Board of Directors, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd (The Times of India). Parigi highlighted possible government intervention and initiatives to tap growth potential. “Leadership should deliver,” he says. He mentioned the need for three things; a government representative (a civil servant) as a process owner, in order to liaison with the government for commercialization and monetization of the industry; quality education to create job ready professionals and infrastructure. “It is the government’s responsibility to tap the creative genius of the not-so-well-to-do in their inclusive programs,” said Parigi. In addition, he stressed the need for strong contemporary curriculum at training schools, given that by virtue of its nature the industry is secular and inclusive.
Two panel discussions, following the inaugural session of the AVG Summit, took off from these thoughts: education and training initiatives for creating job-ready professionals and standardization and; creation of career opportunities for urban, semi-urban and rural artisans.
The second half of the day-long event had a session on opportunities in the AVGC sector, investment destination Karnataka. “The state government has an important role to leverage the potential,” said Nandish Domlur, Chairperson, Vision Group. “Today’s state-backed event is one positive step forward,” he reiterated. Domlur highlighted the need to come out with a three-year road map for the industry in tandem with the government as a measure to fill existing gaps in the eco-system.
The broad areas of opportunities discussed by the panelists included a strong distribution channel for producers of content, gaps in supply side as India is still a service-oriented market, re-look at the broadcast policy in India, and creation of different models for various business houses so that it’s a win-win situation for both production houses and the AVG industry. Moreover, support in funding, cost mitigation and demand stimulation are three broad areas of opportunity that need to be looked at closely according to panelists. “India can be a good country to jointly produce content but we are not necessarily the cheapest,” said Nishith Takia of Krayon. Children of all ages are currently the biggest consumers for animation films in India and Takia suggested the government should look at making these films tax free. Nagarajan, COO, VCL, Tata Elxsi Ltd, was of the opinion that the Indian AVG industry needs to collaborate for production apart from captive units and pure play service. “A business model where we can produce for broadcast plus theater halls is what we should look at,” he said.
Others who spoke at the event were Ashok Kumar C Manoli, Principal Secretary to Government, Dept. of IT, Biotechnology, S&T; Ashish Kulkarni, CEO, BIG Animation; Dr.S.Ghosal, Acting Dean, R&D Campus, National Institue of Design, Chetan, Director, ANTS Animation Training School; Dr.Sandhya Chintala, Director, Education Initiatives, NASSCOM; Krishna Desai, Director, Programming, South Asia, Turner (I) Ltd; Dr.R.H.Kulkarni, Principal, Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat, Bangalore; Anand Parthasarathy, MD & Editor, IndiaTechOnline, among others.

Tags:
ABAI., Animation, AVG Summit, Bengaluru, Karnataka, production, training, VFX