CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu will soon unveil a policy to develop its animation, visual effects, gaming, comics and extended reality (AVGC-XR) sector, designed to prioritise talent creation and industry-led inputs over pure financial incentives, state IT minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said on Thursday.
Speaking at the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) in Chennai, the minister said the policy, cleared by the IT department and now awaiting finance approval, marks a shift in how the state approaches sunrise technology sectors.
“Unlike other policies that are mostly economic-incentive driven, this one is heavily focused on building the talent pool,” he said, adding that nearly 99% of its content was shaped by industry demands.
The policy is built on four pillars, education and skilling, infrastructure and shared resources, business-environment support, and financial incentives.
Beyond subsidies, it will embed gaming, 2D/3D animation and XR modules in school and university curricula, set up centres of excellence, create shared-licence facilities, develop a B2B marketplace, and run a facilitation cell to ease regulations for studios and start-ups.
Thiaga Rajan said the state’s strategy recognises the nature of the AVGC-XR industry as “a highly creative, high-margin sector but not high-employment,” and stressed the need to bridge the traditional divide between creativity and technology skills.
“Historically, those who are creative don’t know the technology, and those who are tech-skilled don’t get to develop creativity. We want to close that gap,” he noted.