Second edition of CII SummitFX gets off to a great start
MIB official lauds AVGC as new superstar of industry, at CII SummitFX 2021
“AVGC to transform India into a 1 trillion digital economy by 2025”
I&B, IT ministries working to create platform for immersive tech apps, share guv reps at CII SummitFX
The second edition of the animation, visual effects and gaming sector (AVGC) summit, called CII SummitFX, being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB); State Government of Karnataka and Software Technology Parks of India from 24th August to 29th August, was inaugurated virtually on Tuesday by Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (Meity), Dr Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary in MIB, Ms Neerja Sekhar and Director General of Software Technology Park of India, Dr Omkar Rai.
Applauding the role played by CII in bringing all the stakeholders together, Dr Kumar stressed that just as IT was transforming the way public dealings were happening in India, similarly it was transforming the way content was being created and consumed.
Ms Sekhar highlighted the huge potential of the sector. She acknowledged that AVGC had emerged as a major segment in the M&E sector. It had grown in leaps and bounds in the last few years. India was the largest market in the world with app downloads, she said, adding that 14% of the app downloads happened in 2020. Curated short video platforms will take 25% of online video viewing timing in the next few years, she said.
From CII, the participants at CII SummitFX included Mr K Madhavan, Chairman of CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment and Country Manager & President of The Walt Disney Company India & Star India; Mr Siddharth Roy Kapur, Co-Chairman CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment and Founder & Managing Director, Roy Kapur Films and Mr Biren Ghose, Vice-Chairman, CII National Committee on Media & Entertainment and Country Head, Technicolor India.
Dr Kumar shared that Meity had been making conscious efforts to promote the AVGC sector so that the overall IT economy got a boost. Last year the ministry had held a grand challenge in various app categories, and the categories on animation and gaming were among the prominent startups that got recognition, he said.
Dr Rai informed that STPI was focusing on technologies of the future. It had set up multiple centres of excellence (COEs) in Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Aizawl and Shillong to help promote the AVGC sector in India. He said the IT services industry was helping in this. Dr Rai said, “We know that India has to do a lot of work in creation of platforms in immersive technologies. In order to democratize these technologies, we need to get indigenous platforms. The policies are already in place and MeITY in collaboration with MIB is in the forefront of taking initiatives, in a collaborative manner.”
Giving an overview of the media and entertainment sector as a whole, Mr Madhavan said that despite a rapid growth of OTT platforms, there was still a huge potential to increase television viewership in India. Growing the industry will require investments in technology, skilling and continuous investment in content. AVGC segment remained with the highest potential. Our share is limited to 1% of the global share, and we need to take it to 5% of global share, he said. Capturing this 5% global market share would be only be possible if industry and government regulators work together with a definitive agenda, he said.
Focusing on the role of AVGC in film making and post-production, Mr Roy Kapur said, “If we have to make big ticket entertainers which involve new worlds, fantasy, magical, visual effects, it is important for filmmakers to embrace technology and realize what it can do for storytelling.” He rued that the level of training to use technology was low. To move forward, he said, our goal should be to have our movies that will go out to the world, that will help create a culture and a soft power, like many of the Hollywood movies had done”.
Explaining the rationale behind this year’s theme of the summit: The Reset, Mr Ghose said that as the industry had braced itself in the last 18 months, a new era of a continuing growing opportunity had emerged. The AVGC sector had so far grown in India as a B2B industry, and revenue had come from global services. The last couple of years saw a major B2C agenda and consumers embraced entertainment, and revenues have grown to exponentially higher. Four key action points for the industry, he said, were:
Focus on education and skills and creation of a National AVGC Skills Council
Industry participation in at least two international festivals of animation, visual effects, gaming and e-sports, on the lines of participation in international film festivals
Stable climate to attract investments as the industry has a robust ability to absorb international investments.
Government’s enabling role as a facilitator
The six-day virtual summit will see over 40+ Knowledge Sessions and over 100 speakers deliberating on a wide range of issues that cut across the spectrum looking to develop a cohesive industry engagement with core cross-sectoral policy dialogues and strategic exchanges.
CII SummitFX 2021 will see experts from the UK, the USA, Japan and key states like Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir coming together to discuss the AVGC segment, and its transformation of India into a global leader. This platform will seek to curate and create an environment conducive to helping build a better future and achieve the targets of the segment.
24 August 2021