A quiet but far-reaching shift in India’s education and skilling strategy emerged from the Union Budget, with a nationwide plan to embed creative technology training directly into schools and colleges.
The Budget has proposed setting up AVGC content creator labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges across the country. The initiative targets Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics, and is being positioned as a long-term talent pipeline for India’s fast-growing creative economy.
The labs will be developed under the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies framework. The focus will be on hands-on learning, access to industry-grade tools and project-based training. The goal is to introduce creative technology skills early, instead of limiting such exposure to private courses or post-graduate programmes.
Budget documents highlight the scale of demand, noting that India’s AVGC sector is expected to need around 2 million trained professionals by 2030. Growth is being driven by global outsourcing demand, expanding domestic gaming studios, rising OTT content production and wider adoption of AR, VR and extended reality technologies.
For the current financial year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has received an allocation of ₹4,551.94 crore. While a large share continues to support public broadcasting, ₹250 crore has been specifically earmarked for AVGC talent development initiatives.
Officials said the funding will be used for lab infrastructure, curriculum design, faculty training and partnerships with industry players to keep training aligned with real-world needs. The labs are expected to cover animation workflows, VFX compositing, game design, coding, storytelling, sound design and interactive media production.
By introducing these skills at the school level, policymakers aim to reduce learning gaps and expand access beyond major cities. The approach is also intended to support original content creation, not just outsourcing work.
Industry groups have welcomed the move, calling it a shift from fragmented skilling efforts to a structured national framework. They say the scale of the rollout could help build a steady and geographically diverse talent base for studios, startups and creative enterprises.
Beyond employment, the initiative is also being viewed as an education reform. Students will be encouraged to build portfolios through lab-based work, a key requirement in creative fields. State education departments and colleges are expected to play a central role in implementation and coordination.
Analysts say the AVGC push aligns with India’s broader effort to diversify growth beyond traditional IT and manufacturing, with creative technologies offering strong export potential and high-value jobs.
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