MUMBAI: With the animation and gaming sectors rapidly-burgeoning, the Maharashtra Government has proposed granting industry status and extending benefits to them, akin to those available to IT units in the state, a senior State Government official said.

Besides the above two sectors, the Government will also extend the same benefits to two more related segments—visual effects and comics, he said. "There is a huge potential in the animation, visual-effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) space which is growing by leaps and bounds every year. We want to prepare a specific policy to promote these sectors as a separate industry," the State’s Development Commissioner (Industries), Sanjay Sethi, said, here.

A task force comprising the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), NASSCOM and experts from the field
was working on the policy.

"We have recommended that the State should encourage development of AVGC parks by providing incentives like additional FSI, tax benefits and making available electricity at cheaper rates, among others," MCCIA’s Joint Chairman, Ashish Kulkarni, said.

MCCIA has also recommended that entertainment tax not be levied on AVGC units at least for the next five-years. The Government should also make a provision for a promotional fund in its budget for the next three-years, he said.

"This fund could be utilised for promoting AVGC units in Maharashtra during international events related to these sectors," Kulkarni said. On its part, the Government is ready to extend its full support to developing AVGC as a separate industry and has proposed extension of benefits in its IT and IT Enabled Services Policy 2009, Sethi said.

"We intend to facilitate the establishment of common facilities through the promotion of AVGC centres in the state," he said. The centres would be an integrated facility including production facilities, studios, space for performing arts, exhibition galleries and work-place requirements for the artistes, Sethi said.

The policy also envisages developing a pool of AVGC industry professionals through collaborations among universities, the industry and agencies such as Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd (MKCL) and Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE).