IICT and Netflix Launch Scholarships for 100 Students to Build India’s Next Generation of AVGC-XR Talent

India is strengthening its pipeline of creative-technology professionals as the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix launch a scholarship programme covering 100 students across six specialised courses in animation, visual effects, gaming, comics and digital-content production.

The initiative will provide eligible students and working professionals with financial assistance covering up to 80% of programme fees, widening access to professional training in fields that are becoming increasingly important to India’s rapidly expanding creative economy.

The scholarships cover two one-year diploma programmes — Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts and Visual Effects Mastery — along with four six-month certificate programmes in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports & Gaming Management.

The programme forms part of a wider effort to develop India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) ecosystem into a globally competitive industry. These sectors combine artistic creativity with advanced digital technologies and are increasingly contributing to film production, streaming, gaming, advertising, immersive media and interactive entertainment.

The scholarship initiative follows the launch of the Netflix India Storytelling Initiative earlier in August 2026, which seeks to strengthen India’s creative-talent pipeline by providing young professionals with skills that correspond to contemporary global production requirements.

Netflix has also contributed industry inputs to the curriculum for IICT’s Visual Effects Mastery and Media Tech Workflow programmes. The courses are being designed around professional production processes and standards used in modern entertainment and digital-content industries, helping students move more smoothly from academic training into professional environments.

The collaboration represents a broader shift towards industry-linked education in India’s creative sector. Instead of concentrating only on conventional artistic training, institutions such as IICT are increasingly integrating digital production technologies, virtual environments, animation pipelines, gaming systems and specialised media workflows into professional education.

This approach is particularly significant as India seeks to expand its Orange Economy, which encompasses economic activity generated through creativity, culture, design, entertainment and intellectual property. India’s large pool of artists, designers, programmers, animators and storytellers gives the country an opportunity to become both a major production centre and a source of globally consumed creative content.

IICT has been established as India’s national centre of excellence for the AVGC-XR sector by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra, FICCI and CII. It currently operates from the NFDC Complex at Pedder Road in Mumbai, while a permanent 10-acre campus at Film City, Goregaon, is under development.

By combining substantial financial assistance with industry-designed curricula, the IICT-Netflix initiative could help create a larger pool of production-ready talent for India’s film, streaming, gaming and immersive-content industries. It also strengthens the emerging model in which government-backed institutions and global entertainment companies work together to convert India’s longstanding storytelling tradition into a modern, technology-driven creative industry with international reach.

For more information on the scholarships and programmes, visit iict.org.

Source: PIB https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?PRID=2303457&reg=48&lang=1