Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) has urged the Centre to form a body on the lines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to standardise animation courses in the country.
FKCCI’s IT and BT Committee chairperson Raj Bhasin on Sunday said that a UGC-like body would help the Indian animation industry meet its human resource requirement of 25,000 skilled employees annually.
She was speaking at the inaugural of the day-long International Animation Day celebrations at Chitrakala Parishat organised by the FKCCI in association with the Government of Karnataka and Association of Bangalore Animation Industry.
“The contribution of the animation industry to the GDP is equivalent to the IT industry and in the recent past, various fields such as medical animation, architecture animation and technical animation are being explored by the industry. There is a rising demand for visual effects in most mainstream films in the country,” she said.
According to the FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2012, the entire Indian animation industry, including work outsourced to it, is worth not more than `1,130 crore.
“The animation industry here is poised to grow by about 23 per cent in the next four years. The industry was estimated at `18.5 billion in 2009, which will be `54 billion by 2014. More and more fine art students are opting for the animation industry,” said FKCCI senior vice-president R Shivakumar, adding that 2D and 3D animation have opened up job opportunities for young aspirants.
International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) has declared October 28 as International Animation Day to commemorate the first public performance of Emile Reynaud’s Theatre Optique in Paris in 1892.
Akhauri P Sinha, country head, Moving Pictures Company, said, “There is a world-class talent pool working here. Animators here have made significant contributions to movies like Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prometheus, Fast and Furious 5 and so on.”
The day long event had several competitions and seminars organised on various aspects of animation.