Union Budget 2026: 15,000 school content labs to boost India’s AVGC sector and creative economy

FILE PHOTO: India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds a folder bearing the Authorities of India’s emblem as she leaves her workplace to current the annual federal finances in parliament in New Delhi, India, February 1, 2026
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ALTAF HUSSAIN

Highlighting the potential of the “Orange Economy”, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday stated that the federal government will suppprt Indian Institute of Creative Applied sciences, Mumbai to arrange content creator labs throughout 15,000 secondary colleges and 500 faculties. The Finance Minister stated that is being finished to help the expansion of India’s Animation, Visible Results, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector which is projected to require 2 million professionals by 2030.

In accordance to a report launched by FICCI and EY in 2025, the Animation and VFX sector revenues stood at about ₹113 billion in 2025 and is anticipated to develop at a CAGR of 12.5 per cent to ₹147 billion by 2027.

Rajiv Chilaka, Founder & CEO, Inexperienced Gold Animation, stated it is a “transformative step” for India’s creative economy. “What is especially encouraging is the robust push it will give to regional content creators, enabling expertise past metro cities to entry world-class instruments, coaching, and manufacturing ecosystems. It will speed up unique IP creation in native languages, increase employment alternatives, and gasoline India’s cultural exports globally,” he added.

Rajesh Sethi, Accomplice and Chief- Media, Leisure and Sports activities, PwC India stated the initiative goals to shift India from a back-end service supplier to a world IP powerhouse and if India is ready to nurture storytellers, it could possibly be a sport changer for the worldwide creative economy

Ankush Sachdeva, CEO and Co-founder, ShareChat and Moj added that it is a step in direction of formalising India’s creator economy, which influences over 30 per cent of shopper buy choices and almost $350–400 billion in shopper spending. “By enabling early, formal coaching in animation, visible storytelling and short-form content creation, this initiative will assist creators construct sustainable careers, enhance content high quality, and unlock the subsequent part of creator-led commerce as creator-influenced spend,” he added.

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Printed on February 1, 2026