Mumbai, May 3, 2025 – Taking a significant step towards empowering India’s AVGC-XR ecosystem, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with FICCI and CII, has established the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) – a national excellence center dedicated solely to the AVGC-XR sector. The central Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ashwini Vaishnaw, officially flagged off this strategic collaboration.
He emphasized India's potential to lead globally in the media and entertainment sector and stated that just as IITs and IIMs set the standard in technology and management education, IICT is on the path to becoming a premier institution in this field.
At the opening ceremony of WAVES 2025 in Mumbai, Minister Vaishnaw formally announced this initiative. He stated that IICT will follow the model of IITs and IIMs to establish itself as a globally recognized education and training center for students aspiring to become professionals in the AVGC-XR field.
“Launching a completely new initiative in the world of cinema and entertainment is the Prime Minister's vision to position India as a global leader in the media and entertainment sector,” said Vaishnaw. He thanked industry partners who expressed willingness to collaborate and announced that leading global companies had agreed to partner with IICT for curriculum development, internships, scholarships, funding for startups, and job placement.
"I thank all industry partners and their senior management for expressing their readiness to partner with us in this initiative. They will help build this institution and sustain its long-term growth. I hope IICT will become a major educational infrastructure for the AVGC-XR sector. We will follow the standards we set for IITs and IIMs, ensuring it becomes a world-class institution," said the central minister.
Some of the companies offering long-term support for this initiative include JioStar, Adobe, Google & YouTube, Meta, Wacom, Microsoft, and NVIDIA.
Among the entrepreneurs present at the event were Richard Kerris, Vice President and General Manager, Media and Entertainment, NVIDIA; Sanjog Gupta, CEO, Sports and Live Experiences, JioStar; Mala Sharma, Vice President and General Manager – Education, Adobe; Preeti Lobana, Country Head and Vice President, Google India; Rajeev Malik, Senior Director, Wacom; Sandeep Bandibeker, Sales Head, State Government and Healthcare, Microsoft; and Sunil Abraham, Director, Public Policy, Meta.
The IICT Board of Directors members present included Ashish Kulkarni, Biren Ghosh, Manavendra Shukla, Munjal Shroff, Chaitanya Chinchlikar, and Subhash Sapru. IICT’s executive team includes Dr. Vishwas Devaskar, Ninad Raikar, and Shweta Verma.
During the session, representatives from IICT and leading industry partners gathered and exchanged letters of intent, marking the beginning of long-term collaborative efforts to drive India’s AVGC-XR ecosystem forward. Companies signing the letters included global industry leaders such as JioStar, Adobe, Google, YouTube, and Meta.
This collaboration aims to promote education, research, development, and innovation in Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, Film, and Extended Reality. The objective is to develop a sustainable ecosystem for future growth and create a model for India’s successful IT industry in the creative and digital media sectors.
The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Dr. L. Murugan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Sanjay Jaju, and the Director General of the Press Information Bureau, Dheerendra Ojha, were present during the exchange of agreements.
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