Animation, gaming jobs set to double by 2012: Nasscom

28 Sep 2009, 0019 hrs IST, Sutanuka Ghosal, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: The animation industry is likely to have the going good in respect of jobs. Nasscom’s projections suggest that employment in this sector
will double from 14,700 now to 29,500 by 2012. Similarly, the gaming industry too will create a huge number of jobs in the next three years, with the projections being 10,700 jobs by 2012 from a meagre 2,300 people now.

Responding to a ET questionnaire over phone from Delhi, Sangeeta Gupta, vice-president of Nasscom said: “The animation and gaming industry in India has immense scope to grow. Given the financial meltdown, many western countries are actively looking at destinations like India to develop animation content within moderate budgets. The increased interest of Bollywood and the regional cinema industry for animation, has boosted growth also. The Indian animation industry has moved from a pure offshore model to co-production model. While the domestic sector contributed with manpower and infrastructure, international producers helped with marketing and distribution.”

Ms Gupta said that according to Nasscom therefore, animation and gaming companies will witness a significant growth by 2012. “At present, there are some 250 animation companies in the country. By 2012, we expect the number of such companies to swell to around 400. The number of gaming companies will also double from around 50 now to 100 by 2012.”

The Nasscom vice-president estimated that the turnover in the animation sector could cross $1 billion by 2012 from $492 million in 2008. Similarly, turnover in the gaming industry stood at $167 million in 2008, but is likely to go up to $830 million by 2012.

Ms Gupta said Nasscom was keen to provide quality training to those, who want to pursue a career in animation. It has already approached the IT ministry for setting up a formal accreditation board for the animation industry.

“The board will come up with a curriculum, which will be taught by all animation training institutes. We feel that there is an immediate need to standardise the courses that existing institutes offer,” the Nasscom vice-president said.