Budget 2022: Media & entertainment industry calls AVGC task force progressive

India’s media and entertainment sector has long been asking for some kind of legitimacy for the gaming and related industries. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech for the financial year 2022-2023 announced the creation of an animation, visual effects, gaming, and comic (AVGC) task force. She said that the 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 announced in her speech.

 

Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ Punit Goenka said that the Budget had holistic focus on broad-based economic recovery with a huge emphasis on job creation and digital ecosystem of the country. 

“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,” said Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

 

Industry feels that this task force can help promote the creation of a robust infrastructure for game development with gradual benefits to the gaming community. “As we know, India presently commands around 10 per cent of the global AVGC market and has the potential to reach 20-25 per cent by 2027. This taskforce will facilitate employment for the youth, build domestic capacity to serve the Indian markets and also meet global demand,” Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies said.

 

“We are also looking forward to the 5G spectrum auction this year. 5G can further promote the latest innovations and mass adoption of technologies like cloud gaming in the country.There is a huge scope of employment for the youth in the gaming industry, Esports/Video Games is a versatile industry and there is a huge scope for professional gamers as well as other jobs like casters, commentators, and other support staff appointed by the esports tournaments like producers, editors, analysts, product managers, game testers, referees, production crew members, event managers, social media managers, etc,” Vishwalok Nath, Director, World Esports Cup added.

 

The industry also called it a progressive and a reform-oriented Budget. 

“The gaming industry welcomes the decision to set up a task force for Animation, Visual Effect, Gaming and Comics. AVGC taskforce can provide the long-term policy impetus and bring together the various stakeholders to turbocharge the vibrant ecosystem in gaming and animation. India has a deep and very high quality talent pool of developers and creative artists who will transform India into a global player in the interactive entertainment space in the coming years,” Rahul Tewari, Chief Financial Officer, Games24x7 said. 

Tewari added that this will pave the way for regularity clarity for gaming, a sector that has contributed immensely to India’s start-up success in the last few years. "In that context, the decision to set up a special committee to reduce regulations for start-ups, and the extension of tax benefits are laudable announcements. It shows the government's acknowledgement of the start up’s contribution to economic growth. Finally, the commitment to roll out a 5G network in the next fiscal year is a very promising announcement for the tech start up space in general and gaming in particular,” he argued.

Industry body the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) agrees. 

“It is encouraging to finally see the seriousness from our Government towards this sector which has been long neglected. This will definitely help in setting up the policies which would encourage and build our capacities and capabilities to export to the rest of the world; leading to more domestic video game development studios and more investments in the AVGC sector. The task force should consist largely of people who have been part of the "Video Game" industry and are playing an active role in shaping up the Indian video game industry,” Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President, AESF said.

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