The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have announced scholarships for 100 students, offering up to 80 per cent financial support across six professional programmes. These include two one-year diploma programmes and four six-month certificate programmes.
The programmes covered under the scholarship initiative are the Diploma in Interactive Comics and Sequential Arts, Diploma in Visual Effects Mastery, Certificate in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Certificate in Media Tech Workflow, Certificate in Art of Character Animation, and Certificate in E-Sports & Gaming Management.
Sharing details of the initiative, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, said the collaboration aims to strengthen India's creative talent pipeline and support the growth of the country's 'Orange Economy'. It added that the partnership could help position India as an emerging global hub for cutting-edge content creation.
The announcement follows a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos on August 5.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted India's rich storytelling tradition and its large pool of creative talent. He said this talent could be leveraged to strengthen India's position as a global hub for content creation.
The Netflix India Storytelling Initiative aims to invest in India's creative talent pipeline by equipping the next generation of storytellers with industry-relevant skills across the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) ecosystem. The sector is considered a key driver of India's 'Orange Economy'.
The scholarships will be available to students and working professionals from across India.
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 and Broadcasting, and Chairman of the IICT Board, Chanchal Kumar, said India's creative economy is at an inflection point as technology continues to transform the way stories are created.
"IICT was envisioned as a bridge between India's enormous creative talent pool and the rapidly changing needs of the global AVGC-XR industry. Partnerships with leading global players are an important part of building that bridge. Such collaborations will bring industry knowledge into the classroom and help develop India's talent into the creative workforce of tomorrow," Kumar said.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar said the collaboration would bring industry perspectives directly into the institute's academic framework, including curriculum design, professional workflows and industry standards.
"By combining structured education with direct industry inputs and financial access, we aim to create a stronger pipeline of talent that is ready to contribute to India's growing creative economy," Deoskar said.
Chairman of the FICCI AVGC-XR Forum, Munjal Shroff, said the FICCI-IICT-Netflix collaboration marks a shift towards industry-aligned talent development and will help build a future-ready workforce for India's AVGC-XR sector.
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 and Broadcasting, Government of India, in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra, FICCI, and CII.
The institute currently operates from the NFDC Complex on Pedder Road, Mumbai, while its permanent 10-acre campus is being developed at Film City, Goregaon.
More information on the scholarships and programmes is available at iict.org.
