The Indian animation industry today stands at Rs 12 billion, and is projected to grow to Rs 42 billion by 2009. Animation in India is currently riding on two key factors – a large base of highly skilled labour, and low cost of production. While the industry is gaining prominence steadily, several important factors such as the government’s role in supporting the animation industry, producing original content locally, and the importance of training, will steer the industry to greater heights. .

A study by NASSCOM forecasts that the global animation market will generate revenues worth $50-70 billion by 2005. Animation production from Indian producers is expected to go up from $0.6 billion in 2001 to $ 1.5 billion by 2005.

However, the corporate view is a little different. “There is not much work happening on the 3D animation front in India. Mostly it is on 2D. One of the major hurdles that we are experiencing in India is shortage of required skills for this industry,” says SS Dahiya, chairman and managing director, Compudyne Winfosystems Ltd.

Animation Movies in India: Animated feature films in India may finally be coming of age — song, dance, stars and all.

IT STARTED SMALL. Minuscule in fact. Standing high atop his animation studio empire, Walt Disney famously said, “I hope we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.” Cut to Diwali 2005, along with the blockbuster releases starring assorted Kapoors, Khans and Kumars, there was an ambitious animated film called Hanuman. It had no stars and was ostensibly meant for children, but it went on to generate returns that the rest of the season’s releases would envy. More significantly perhaps, it opened a door, spawning a generation of producers, who saw an untapped market in the Indian film space.

Film producers are ushering in a wave of animation and special effects based movies to cash in on the passion for visual fantasy of a younger audience.

More on Ghatothkach, Dashavatar & Mahayodha Raam in next post.