India Launches National Centre of Excellence for AVGC-XR Sector with Industry Giants on Board

Mumbai: In a transformative move aimed at revolutionizing India’s creative and digital media landscape, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with FICCI and CII, today officially launched the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) — a National Centre of Excellence exclusively dedicated to the AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics & Extended Reality) sector.

The announcement was made during the WAVES 2025 Summit in Mumbai by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ashwini Vaishnaw, who emphasized that IICT will follow the developmental model of IITs and IIMs, transforming into a world-class institution for creative technology education and innovation.

Describing the IICT initiative as a visionary leap, Vaishnaw said, “This is a completely novel initiative in the world of film, media, and entertainment. Guided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, India is poised to take the global lead in the AVGC-XR sector.”

The Union Minister expressed deep appreciation to industry leaders for their commitment to collaborate with IICT on multiple fronts including curriculum development, internships, scholarships, startup incubation, and job placements. He added, “Just like we built global brands in tech and management education, IICT will be the IIT of India’s creative economy.”

The formal inauguration of the IICT saw the exchange of Letters of Intent (LoIs) between the institute and its industry collaborators, marking the beginning of long-term partnerships aimed at advancing research, education, and entrepreneurship in the AVGC-XR domain. The event witnessed the presence of prominent global leaders such as Richard Kerris from NVIDIA, Sanjog Gupta of JioStar, Mala Sharma of Adobe, Preeti Lobana of Google India, Sunil Abraham from Meta, and senior representatives from Microsoft and Wacom. They joined key members of the IICT governing council, including Ashish Kulkarni, Biren Ghosh, Manvendra Shukul, Munjal Shroff, Chaitanya Chinchlikar, and Subhash Sapru.

The institute’s executive leadership includes Dr. Vishwas Deoskar as CEO, Ninad Raikar as COO, and Shweta Verma as the marketing lead. Together, they will steer the institution toward becoming a global powerhouse in creative technology education and innovation.

Also present at the occasion were Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr. L. Murugan, Secretary of the Ministry Sanjay Jaju, and Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau Dhirendra Ojha. They hailed the IICT as a milestone in India’s journey towards building a self-reliant and globally competitive AVGC-XR industry.