Mumbai: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have announced scholarships for 100 students, offering financial support of up to 80% for six professional programmes in the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector.
The initiative covers two one-year diploma programmes and four six-month certificate programmes aimed at developing industry-ready talent among students and working professionals across India.
The programmes include diplomas in Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts and Visual Effects Mastery, along with certificate courses in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports & Gaming Management.
The scholarship initiative follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos on August 5, where the Prime Minister highlighted India’s rich storytelling tradition and vast creative talent pool.
The Netflix India Storytelling Initiative was launched with the objective of strengthening India’s creative talent pipeline and positioning the country as a global hub for content creation. The initiative focuses on industry-relevant skills across the AVGC ecosystem, a key component of India’s emerging “Orange Economy”.
The curriculum for IICT’s Visual Effects Mastery and Media Tech Workflow programmes has been developed in line with contemporary industry practices and global standards, with inputs from Netflix.
IICT Chairman and Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Chanchal Kumar, said partnerships with leading global players would help bridge the gap between India’s creative talent and the evolving requirements of the global AVGC-XR industry.
IICT CEO Dr Vishwas Deoskar said the collaboration would bring industry perspectives into curriculum development, professional workflows and skill standards while improving financial access to specialised education.
FICCI AVGC-XR Forum Chairman Munjal Shroff described the collaboration as a move towards industry-aligned talent development and building a future-ready workforce for India’s AVGC-XR sector.
IICT is India’s national centre of excellence for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) sector. It was established by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in partnership with the Maharashtra government, FICCI and CII.
The institute currently operates from the NFDC Complex on Pedder Road, Mumbai, while its permanent 10-acre campus is being developed at Film City, Goregaon.
