Zee Learn to double its animation centre ZICA this fiscal

MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group's education arm, Zee Learn, plans to double its animation study centre ZICA to 50 this fiscal, a top company official said.

ZICA ( Zee Institute of Creative Arts), presently, has 25 centres that provide certificate and diploma courses in animation, gaming, VFX, and 3D Graphics.

"India is poised to be the next animation hub and the industry is likely to touch Rs 4,500 crore by 2012. However, it is still one per cent of the global market that is pegged at Rs 4,50,000 crore approximately. We plan to open 25 more centres this fiscal," Zee Learn's Business (Head), Prateek Aneja, told PTI here today.

Aneja said that the centres would be opened on a franchise basis at an investment of Rs 10 crore. The centres will be coming up in smaller towns, he said.

Zee Learn expects around Rs 100 crore sales from ZICA in the next three to four years, he said.

Its current earnings is a mere Rs eight crore. "We expect our bottomline to grow more than 50 per cent this fiscal. In the next three to four years, we hope to be a Rs 100 crore entity," Aneja said.