CG Mantra Digital Media Private Limited, a Noida-based animation and VFX (visual effects) academy, is planning to add four more studios – one each at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune – by the end of this financial year with a total investment of Rs 10 crore.

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The proposed facilities will be equipped with green-screen, live action, sound and VFX studios and will offer 10-month to three-year undergraduate programmes, with live projects to students once in every six months.

“Each facility is expected to have an intake of 200 students at full capacity,” said ABRP Reddy, chief executive officer of CG Mantra and adviser to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom)’s animation and gaming forum (NAGFO). Reddy was speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of Nasscom’s Animation and Gaming Summit 2009 that kicked off in Hyderabad on Friday.

“VFX industry is expected to grow significantly from $67 million (Rs 328 crore) now to $173 million (Rs 848 crore) in the next three years. Indian animation industry has so far been thriving on outsourcing business, making inroads slowly into co-production deals which will improve our intellectual property (IP) valuation. But a significant growth for this industry may come from the $10-billion domestic television and film industry. We can very well see visual effects’ component in films and TV to impact the VFX growth favourably,” he said.

CG Mantra, which commenced operations this February, is currently working on a live action-cum-VFX television series. The 29-episode, each 15-minute programme targeted at children in the age group of 6-13, with fun, learning and adventure elements, is currently in the pre-production stage.

“The programme, which will be released in English, Telugu and Hindi, will entail an investment of Rs 2 lakh per episode (excluding studio facility costs) and will be released by March next year. We are yet to sign an agreement with a broadcaster,” Reddy, said adding that the startup company was expecting to garner revenues of Rs 1.5 crore by the end of June 2010.

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