Animation industry sees a huge growth: Assocham

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Indian animation industry worth Rs 2,325 crore last year is expected to mark a compound annual growth rate of 23 per cent and reach Rs 4,375 crore by 2013, industry body Assocham said on Wednesday.

At the same time, the gaming market estimated at Rs 900 crore in 2010 will grow with CAGR of 53 per cent to touch Rs 2,125 crore, according to a recent study by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and global consulting firm Delloite.

The animation entertainment sector (comprising 20 per cent of the animation industry and developing content for television, films or DVD) is highly fragmented and most skill sets are primarily involved in labour-intensive production and post-production activities. There is a need to upscale these capabilities across a wider section by focusing on owning the intellectual property.

The custom content development and education segment comprising 64 per cent of the animation industry is also expected to see momentum largely due to corporate e-learning programmes and grow at 11 per cent per annum. The animation visual effects (VFX) involve special effects development mainly used in movies and advertisement productions.

“The rising number of TV channels, greater accessibility to the Internet, proliferation of mobile devices that leads to popularity of video and gaming content are set to offer a huge potential for animation and character licensing,” said the study, adding the TV advertisement industry is expected to increase to Rs 15,000 crore by 2013.

India is the second largest mobile market with about 750 million mobile subscribers and 12 million subscribers being added every month. The growth potential on 3G platform for gaming is humongous. Nearly eight crore internet users and over 65 per cent of the population is under the age of 35 years present an added advantage.

In addition, the cost of developing games in the country is half of what it costs in the United States. This allows tremendous opportunities for outsourcing game development and services to India — especially console, PC and online gamings.

The industry needs a sustained focus on skill upgradation for developing high quality games, continuous creative innovation in a rapidly-changing consumer demand, quality enhancement to match international standards, and effective revenue sharing model among telecom operators and developers and service providers which is essential to propel growth of mobile gaming in India, said the study.