Mumbai: The Game Developer Association of India (GDAI), the apex industry body for game development, has welcomed the Union Budget 2026–27’s focused push on skilling for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC), calling it a strong validation of industry-led recommendations aimed at building India’s next-generation interactive media workforce.
A key highlight of the Budget is the government’s support for the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), Mumbai, to establish AVGC Content Creator Labs across 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges nationwide. The initiative is designed to enable early-stage skill development and create a structured pipeline of future-ready creators, developers, and creative technologists, while mainstreaming game development and interactive media as viable career pathways.
The Budget has also earmarked ₹250 crore for AVGC talent development in FY 2026–27, underscoring the sector’s growing importance as a high-value employment and export-oriented pillar of India’s services economy. GDAI noted that this emphasis on skilling closely aligns with its pre-budget submissions and sustained engagement with the Government, which have consistently advocated for integrating interactive media and game development into national education and skilling frameworks rather than treating them as niche disciplines.
With coordinated policy support and deeper industry integration, GDAI estimates that India’s gaming ecosystem could enable over 200,000 trained game developers, support the creation of more than 1,500 studios, and generate $10 billion in annual gaming exports by 2035. The association has also highlighted the need for early exposure to creative and technical skills to meet the projected demand for over 2 million AVGC professionals by the end of the decade.
Commenting on the announcement, Manish Agarwal, Board Member, GDAI, said, “The announcement of AVGC content creator labs in schools and colleges is a landmark step toward building India’s next generation of game designers and developers. Over the past few years, GDAI has been closely engaging with government stakeholders to help shape a long-term talent pipeline that starts at the school level and extends through higher education and industry readiness. We strongly welcome this move, which will significantly accelerate the growth of gaming, AVGC-XR, and interactive media careers across the country.”
