Animation industry gets boost in India

Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW YORK: It's possible that great American animation movies like "Shrek" and "Nemo" could be made in India in the future as the country is focusing on strengthening its multimedia services. The government is encouraging this $500 million industry in India and so are other donors and investors who see the potential of such American movie hits being made at lower costs in developing countries like India. This may explain why the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of The World Bank, Monday announced it is investing up to $3 million in a leading animation services company, Dataquest Management and Communications Ltd, now DQ Entertainment Ltd. The Hyderabad-based business provides outsourced and proprietary 2D/3D animation and multimedia services to North American and European production houses. The global multimedia industry is expected to grow at 30 percent annually for the next few years and as large production houses are seeking alternative locations to traditional production centres to reduce rising labour and technical costs, India presents an opportunity. Several animation schools have been founded throughout the country and New Delhi has spurred this through investments. The animation industry, which requires highly skilled and creative professionals, is increasingly outsourcing to developing countries, according to the World Bank and the IFC. "India is well positioned with its sophisticated IT and media industry to take advantage of this global opportunity," said Dmimitris Tsitsiragos, director of IFC's South Asia department. "This investment is part of our strategy to help innovative Indian companies expand into global markets, creating export earnings and employment." "IFC's investment and presence will take our operations to the next level of technological advances by addition of the latest CGI/3D animation facilities," said Tapaas Chakravarti, managing director and CEO of Dataquest. With some 700 professionals, Dataquest believes it is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity of providing good-quality, affordable animation products to leading western animation and children's entertainment firms.
Source: IANS
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