The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have announced scholarships for 100 students, offering financial support of up to 80 per cent across six professional programmes aimed at developing industry-ready talent in India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) ecosystem.
The scholarship initiative covers two one-year diploma programmes and four six-month certificate programmes, and is open to students and working professionals from across India.
The programmes covered under the initiative include a Diploma in Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts, a Diploma in Visual Effects Mastery, and certificate courses in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports & Gaming Management.
The initiative follows the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos on August 5, 2026. During the meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted India’s rich storytelling tradition and large pool of creative talent, noting their potential to strengthen India’s position as a global hub for content creation.
The Netflix India Storytelling Initiative was launched following the meeting to invest in India’s creative talent pipeline by equipping the next generation of storytellers with industry-relevant skills across the AVGC ecosystem, which is emerging as an important driver of India’s Orange Economy.
Industry-aligned curriculum
As part of the collaboration, the curriculum for IICT’s Visual Effects Mastery and Media Tech Workflow programmes has been designed to reflect contemporary industry workflows and global standards, with inputs from Netflix.
Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Chairman of the IICT Board, Chanchal Kumar, said India’s creative economy is at an important stage as technology transforms the way stories are created.
He said IICT was envisioned as a bridge between India’s large creative talent pool and the changing requirements of the global AVGC-XR industry, adding that partnerships with global industry players can bring practical knowledge and expertise into classrooms.
IICT CEO Dr Vishwas Deoskar said the collaboration would bring industry perspectives into the institute’s academic framework, covering curriculum design, professional workflows and the standards expected of students.
He said combining structured education with industry inputs and financial assistance would help create a stronger talent pipeline capable of contributing to India’s expanding creative economy.
Munjal Shroff, Chairman of the FICCI AVGC-XR Forum, described the FICCI-IICT-Netflix collaboration as a move towards industry-aligned talent development aimed at creating a future-ready workforce for India’s AVGC-XR sector.
Building India’s creative talent pipeline
IICT is India’s national centre of excellence for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) sector. It was established by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The institute currently operates from the NFDC Complex at Pedder Road, Mumbai, while its permanent 10-acre campus is being developed at Film City, Goregaon.
The scholarship programme is intended to widen access to specialised professional training while connecting students and working professionals with evolving industry practices.
By combining financial support with industry-informed curricula, the IICT-Netflix partnership seeks to strengthen India’s pipeline of skilled professionals for the rapidly expanding global AVGC-XR and content-creation sectors.
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