Karnataka leads centre in AVGC support, aims to create 50,000 jobs by 2028: IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge

Karnataka IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge, on Monday, said the state was ahead of the union government in policies supporting the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) industry, and added that it aimed to create 50,000 jobs in the sector by 2028.

"We have been supporting the orange economy for the past seven years, but no one has acknowledged it," the minister said in Bengaluru. "We want to create more than 50,000 high-value jobs in this sector by the end of 2028." The AVGC sector is informally called the orange economy.

The statement comes a day after the union budget extended policy support for India's AVGC domain to create more jobs in the sector. The budget proposed supporting the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai, in building AVGC creator labs across secondary schools and colleges.


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Kharge added that the state comprises nearly 20% of the country's media and entertainment industry, with over 300 AVGC-XR (extended reality) studios and a workforce of 15,000 professionals.

He said that the state established an AVGC Centre of Excellence (CoE) in early 2022. This has executed nearly 200 domestic and international projects and served as an incubation platform for over 100 startups. The state government has allocated Rs 150 crore for this initiative.

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In partnership with the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry, the state announced the launch of GAFX 2026, one of India’s largest AVGC conferences. The latest edition will host global experts from leading studios, including California-headquartered Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), Netflix, Canada-based visual effects studio Mr.X, China-based Base FX, Thailand-headquartered Monk Studios, and The Perlin, a London-based independent VFX studio. Previous editions have featured experts from Walt Disney Animation, Netflix, and New York-based Rockstar Games.

"GAFX reflects Karnataka's long-term commitment to building a future-ready AVGC ecosystem across the entire value chain — from skilling and infrastructure to startups and global market access,” said IT/BT secretary Manjula N.