Even as an increasing number of software professionals are being benched and
others are apprehensive of their future, the hitherto ignored segment of the
Indian software industry — multimedia — is slowly beginning to receive its
fair share of attention.
Multimedia institute heads and professionals in the field are confident that
the next few years might be boom time for this segment. A sure pointer of this
trend is the rise in number of institutes ‘specializing’ in multimedia
courses. So, is the multimedia industry the next big thing?
US recession has not had any impact on the number of students opting for the
course. On the contrary, we are seeing a marginal increase in the number of
inquiries on the courses offered by the institute, an indicator that people are
looking at this sector to make it big, points out Pentamedia Graphics’
associate consultant (Bangalore) Anitha Padmanaban.
US-based software graphic programmer V. Narayanan says the future for the
sector seems bright despite India arriving late at the scene. This is supported
by the salary multimedia professionals attract in the US. According to industry
sources, anything between $40,000 to $100,000 per annum is paid to an individual
in the field depending on the experience, project and location within the US. A
multimedia fresher in India can expect anywhere around Rs 10,000.
The growth projection
According to Nasscom figures, the multimedia market size in India was estimated
to be Rs 500 crore or $1.1 billion in 1999-2000. In 1999-2000, out of the total
software exports of $4 billion, nearly $180 million worth of exports was
contributed by multimedia related products and services and software exports
incorporating multimedia features. With Indian software and services industry
offering special effects and designing customized software to global media
houses, the multimedia software development services is estimated to garner $370
million as exports in 2000-01 (see Figure
1).
Opportunities unlimited
According to Nasscom, the spread of IT and availability of new media has thrown
up new opportunities for multimedia industry in various sectors such as
animation, local content/Web designing and movies. Indian firms can also offer
services to overseas firms to establish new media infrastructure and their
management. Indian firms can also establish offshore services infrastructure
such as video server centers, so that customers/viewers from various countries
can have access to variety of content through high-speed telecom links.
But then the stumbling block...
Nasscom’s strategic review for 2001 states that "the use of
multimedia remained largely restricted with not much headway in the commercial
corporate segment. It further stated that multimedia was unable to bundle real
time interactivity with digital media capabilities."
Some professionals cited the unrealistic time limit set by the customer as
the main reason. "A customer walks in with a project with preset deadline
and an inflexible budget. And hence, one has to work within a shoestring budget
and insufficient time limit, which would definitely have an impact on the end
product," says Vinod Nanaiah, designer/programmer in a Bangalore-based
firm.
Antony, another 3D graphic designer of a Chennai-based multimedia firm, says most Hollywood producers prefer to go to Japan and Indonesia because of inferior quality of graphics available in India. But, this can be cited to the fact that Indians were late in this field and hence the industry is still in a fledgling stage. Take for instance, the use of Rig cameras. This is a recent phenomenon in the Indian movie industry, but this has been in use in Hollywood for nearly 10 years. The lack of Indians mastering the ‘color correction’ is another pointer to this trend, Antony adds.
Lack of experienced personnel in the field is seen as another stumbling
block in the growth of this sector. As the local market is not big enough to
support the operational costs, limited recruitment of these professionals are
carried out, says V. Narayanan.
But the future is out there
The home market is increasingly getting hooked to the multimedia boom. According
to a Nasscom survey, 64 per cent of multimedia PCs were bought by SOHO consumers
in 2000. The numbers may still be small, but the growth potential in this market
is huge. The multimedia industry should attract the home consumers with more
localized and cheaper products.
Despite the various lacunae in the multimedia industry, a majority of the
professionals express optimism of the future as India has the necessary talent
to produce quality graphics, provided the movie industry pumped in more capital
for the projects. And with more and more multimedia houses finding the field
attractive in terms of returns, India is likely to make it big in this field,
said Vice President, Development, GDR Media Ltd., Venakatasubramanian (see Figure
2).
(Graphics courtesy: NASSCOM strategic review 2001)