Indian Economy News

Government accelerates Orange Economy, expands Content Creator Labs and skill development initiatives nationwide

The Government has stepped up its drive to develop India’s Orange Economy, with the Union Budget 2026-27 proposing AVGC Content Creator Labs (CCLs) in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges across the country. This has been provided for with an allocation of Rs. 250 crore (US$ 0.03 billion). This will help develop a future-ready talent pool in the fields of Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR). This is in line with the overarching idea of ‘Create in India, create for the World’ and will help cement India’s position as a global content creation and creative technology destination. The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), Mumbai, which has been functioning from the IICT NFDC campus since July 2025, has been identified as the nodal agency for this rollout. Currently, 18 courses have been offered, with 136 students enrolled and 15 participants completing the ‘Train the Trainer’ programme.

This policy push is expected to greatly strengthen the AVGC-XR skilling ecosystem and employment generation. The AVGC Promotion Task Force has projected that the sector may require two million skilled professionals by 2030. These will be required for content production, design, programming, and immersive technology domains. Along with skilling through institutions, the Government is also utilising opportunities such as WAVES 2025, WaveX Startup Accelerator, WAVES Bazaar, and the Create in India Challenge (CIC) to identify and globally showcase creativity and innovative talent, including those from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The Summit has attracted participation from more than one lakh creators, while selected innovators are being provided mentorship opportunities as well as connecting with investors and international marketplaces. This will greatly strengthen India’s creator economy and will add to the Government’s plans for export-oriented media-tech startups as well as become a global powerhouse for AVGC-XR by the end of the decade.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.