Animation "India as the outsourcing hub"

The current size of the industry is estimated at US$ 247 million and expected to grow at 15-20% per annum. The Indian animation industry employs over 80,000 people.

India’s animation sector is growing at a rapid pace. Indian animation companies and studios have been moving up the value chain to create their own intellectual property rights. Global giants such as Walt Disney, Warner brothers and Sony have been outsourcing animation characters and special effects to Indian firms. Though the animation industry has often been clubbed under the technology sector, entrepreneurs say the business is 70 per cent art and only 30 per cent technology. This is why small enterprises driven by the passion of art-loving are bagging notable deals.

With the emerging of the animation industry and outsourcing demands, various animation companies have emerged across India. Cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Trivandrum are becoming the country’s major animation hubs. These companies own high-tech studios, employ high-quality and highly-skilled engineers and are backed by state-of-the-art equipment. These companies offer a full range of services from 2D animation, 3D animation, storyboards, medical animation and animatics to product demos, viral videos, illustrations, logos, banners, portraits and caricatures. They also provide special animation services customized to the clients’ needs.

The reasons why global entertainment firms are flocking to India are as follows:

a) The cost of animation production in India is one fourth of North America and about 35 per cent lower than countries such as Korea and the Philippines. The key countries outsourcing animation production work to India include the US, the UK, France, Italy and Spain, states a report.

b) India has the second largest entertainment industry in the world. Animation studios in the country provide a large pool of low-cost, high-quality software engineers. A number of Indian animation companies have set up hi-tech studios (equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software) to execute overseas projects.

c) Large English speaking workforce which effectively overcomes the language barrier. A number of animation companies in the country are also creating skilled manpower for the animation market through various training programs.

d) Numerous individual training programs are available from leading advertising and media institutes in the country. These institutes offer various programs in animation and digital production.

India’s animation entertainment sector has experienced a major boom over the last few years. The current size of the industry is estimated at US$ 247 million and expected to grow at 15-20% per annum. The Indian animation industry employs over 80,000 people. The cost of outsourcing one of 2D animation work to India is about US$ 71,000. Demand for animation production services from India is growing with the emergence of an organized animation production sector, with state-of-the-art of work required for international TV program production, at substantially lower costs.

Growth in the sector will be further achieved on the back of increased outsourcing contract work, higher content in movies, more 2D/3D conversion projects, demand for animated TV serials, licensing and merchandising of popular characters. The trend also intrigues the establishment of numerous new animation companies and animation-related training courses in schools and outside. All these developments will drive significant growth, both in terms of revenue and participation in the value chain and will position India as a leading country in animation production and outsourcing.