State VC fund for animation

The Karnataka government would set up a Rs 50 crore venture capital (VC) fund for promoting the animation, visual effects and gaming sector, a key official said today.

IT Secretary M N Vidyashankar said that a Rs 40 crore ‘incubation centre’ for this sector would also be established here. The state government would provide 25 per cent of the funds for this incubation centre, while 50 per cent would come from the industry.

The balance is expected to come from the Centre. The initiatives are part of the policy for the sector approved by the state cabinet yesterday. Vidyashankar said a joint industry-government body would be constituted to implement the policy in a time-bound manner.

“We will also help students in getting educated in select colleges and universities by appropriately modifying the curriculum,” he said. He said training centres would be set up in places like Davanagere, Hubli-Dharwad,Kolar and Chikkaballapura, which have a lot of potential, to fine-tune the skill sets of students.

The sector employs around 3,000 professionals in Bangalore alone and about 19,000 to 20,000 in the state as a whole. This number is expected to go up to 100,000 in the next five years, Vidyashankar added.