Mumbai: India’s first gaming and visual effects institute at Film City

Once functional, the institute will offer formal undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD degrees in visual effects, animation, gaming and comics.

India’s first training institution for visual effects, animation, gaming and comics will be set up in Mumbai.

India’s first training institution for visual effects, animation, gaming and comics will be set up in Mumbai. (HT)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to allot a 20-acre plot for the National Centre of Excellence in animation, visual effects, gaming and comics, at Goregaon’s Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari or Film City, the nerve centre of India’s entertainment industry.

“These sectors are taking long strides in India and their overall demand and share in the media and entertainment industry is on the rise. But, there is still a dearth of skilled manpower in these fields. The Maharashtra government was insistent the Centre’s first such institute comes up in Mumbai and has decided to grant the land free of cost,” an official from the chief minister’s office told HT.

Once functional, the institute will offer formal undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD degrees in visual effects, animation, gaming and comics.

The Union government plans to set up the institute on a public private partnership model, with an agreement between the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The institute, pegged to come up at a cost of Rs200 crore, will be set up and run by the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the industry comprises more than 7% of the overall media and entertainment industry, and is forecast to be worth Rs14,747 crore by 2019.

With the state cabinet’s nod, the Maharashtra government will now start transferring the plot, currently in the name of the state’s culture department, to the revenue department. The revenue department will then forge an agreement with the Centre and hand over the land, a state government official said.