India has taken a major step in advancing its AVGC-XR ecosystem with the launch of strategic industry collaborations under the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT), a National Centre of Excellence dedicated to animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality. The initiative, announced at WAVES 2025, aims to position India as a global leader in media and entertainment education and innovation.
Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Ashwini Vaishnaw, emphasized that IICT will follow the successful educational models of IITs and IIMs, evolving into a world-class institution for professionals in the AVGC-XR sector. The minister expressed gratitude to leading global companies, including JioStar, Adobe, Google & YouTube, Meta, Wacom, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, for partnering with IICT to support curriculum development, internships, scholarships, startup funding, and job placements.
Industry leaders present at the event included Richard Kerris (Nvidia), Sanjog Gupta (Jio Star), Mala Sharma (Adobe), Preeti Lobana (Google India), Rajiv Malik (Wacom), Sandeep Bandibekar (State Govt. & Healthcare), Sandeep Bandivdekar (Microsoft), and Sunil Abraham (Meta). The signing of Letters of Intent (LoIs) formalized long-term collaborations aimed at advancing education, R&D, and innovation within the AVGC-XR ecosystem.
IICT governing board members Ashish Kulkarni, Biren Ghosh, Manvendra Shukul, Munjal Shroff, Chaitanya Chinchlikar, and Subhash Sapru attended the event, alongside IICT’s executive team, including CEO Dr. Vishwas Deoskar, COO Ninad Raikar, and Marketing Lead Shweta Verma.
The initiative seeks to replicate India’s IT sector success within creative and digital media, ensuring a sustainable ecosystem for future growth. The event also saw participation from Minister of State for I&B, Dr. L. Murugan, Secretary of I&B, Sanjay Jaju, and PIB Principal Director General, Dhirendra Ojha, underscoring the government’s commitment to transforming India’s AVGC-XR sector into a global powerhouse.
