India’s Union Budget 2026 allocates ₹250 crore for AVGC talent
India’s Union Budget for 2026 provides ₹250 crore ($27.3 million) for talent development in animation, visual effects, the gaming industry, and comics. In documents and public commentary, this cluster of industries is usually referred to by the acronym AVGC, i.e., animation, visual effects, gaming, comics.
The allocation is framed as support for talent development for the creative industries, where outcomes are often measured not only by the number of jobs, but also by the emergence of new studios, teams, and original projects. At the same time, no detailed breakdown of funding by areas and levels of training has been disclosed in the available communications, which leaves open questions about priorities within the AVGC agenda itself.
Game development and interactive media in national skills frameworks
The budget measures are aimed at integrating game development and interactive media into national educational and professional skilling frameworks. Put neutrally, this is about including gaming and interactive competencies in public training structures, where skills are defined, standardized, and can then be applied in schools, colleges, and retraining programs. This approach is usually associated with the industry’s practical side, since interactive media require a hybrid skill set. Within a single learning track, creative/art disciplines and engineering skills can sit alongside production and user experience work, which in the professional environment is called UX, i.e., designing usability and interaction logic. In this context, the key tasks that national skills frameworks typically address include the following:- a common language for describing studio professions and roles
- comparability of curricula across regions and institutions
- a focus on practical outcomes, including portfolios and team projects
India’s place in the global iGaming market
There are quite a few companies in the country that specialize in developing solutions for the iGaming segment. These are mainly companies that offer technology solutions for traditional casino games. Almost all Indian platforms work with operators holding international licenses. Indian developers also work with Plinko and crash games such as Jet X, Aviator, Aviatrix, Lucky Jet. These are popular areas—their demand is confirmed by data from top-ranking industry sites in top search results. On https://indianjetx.com/, you can see clear evidence—an extensive list of casinos that offer the Jet X crash game. The 2025 legislative changes significantly affected the interests of developers in the iGaming segment. Many companies wound down real-money projects and refocused on entertainment-only versions or expansion into overseas markets. Software and game exports bring more stable revenue and lower risk. The result has been an increased need for specialists who are ready to work to international standards.Content creator labs for schools and colleges
As a separate measure, the budget supports the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, which is expected to roll out AVGC Content Creator Labs. Such labs are usually understood as training spaces and infrastructure for practice, where animated scenes, visual effects, game prototypes, and interactive stories are created, and a foundational content production culture is formed. The project is oriented toward early skills and the creation of a nationwide talent pipeline, i.e., a steady flow of specialists ready to work in the gaming and interactive media industry. In industry logic, this resembles a long production line, where the early stages are linked to interest and experimentation, and the later ones to pipeline discipline, i.e., a sequence of steps from idea to release.15,000 schools and 500 colleges
These figures are stated as the rollout scale of AVGC Content Creator Labs as part of support for IICT. At the same time, it is not specified what the equipment will look like in different types of institutions and whether it will be the same for major metropolitan areas and smaller cities, where the available pool of qualified instructors can differ noticeably.The position of the Game Developer Association of India and the impact on industry initiatives
The Game Developer Association of India, on first mention and hereafter GDAI, welcomed the budget for its attention to the creative sectors. In the association’s assessment, the decision looks like support for initiatives led by the industry itself, and as a step toward strengthening talent development for interactive media. GDAI also links the budget measures to the opportunity to embed gaming competencies within national educational and professional systems, so that training depends less on fragmented courses and local practices. At the same time, in the public sphere it remains unclear how exactly private studios will be involved, and whether independent validation will be предусмотрена, i.e., verifying that graduates’ skills match real production requirements. «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», said GDAI board member Manish Agarwal.GDAI estimates through 2035 and a Nazara Technologies comment on original IP
As a forecast, which GDAI frames as an estimate assuming coordinated policy support, the association indicates the potential scale by 2035. According to GDAI, the sector could train more than 200,000 developers, support more than 1,500 studios, and deliver $10 billion in annual exports by 2035. Such targets set an ambitious framework, but they also highlight gaps in the baseline data. Baseline figures for comparison are not named, risks related to competition for specialists with other technology segments are not discussed, and it is also not disclosed how exports will be measured in hybrid monetization models, where revenue is generated through licensing, services, and in-game purchases. CEO and Joint Managing Director of Nazara Technologies Nitish Mittersain commented: «The Budget’s focus on AVGC is a very positive step for India’s creative and gaming ecosystem». In a separate statement, he added: «This is not just about employment it’s about creating original Indian IP, strengthening our creative economy, and positioning Bharat as a global hub for gaming and interactive entertainment». Taken together, funding for talent development, the inclusion of gaming competencies in national frameworks, and the expansion of training infrastructure through labs in schools and colleges are described as a single, integrated framework that should bring education closer to industry needs. This architecture resembles an attempt to connect early career guidance, formal education, and applied studio practice into a single pathway, while questions remain about implementation details and outcome criteria.Popular Courses
