Animation companies forge international tie-ups

South India is fast emerging as an animation hub, courtesy low overhead costs and robust growth of this sector in the domestic and overseas market.Animation companies are scaling up their facilities and forging international tie-ups to meet the market needs. State governments are providing infrastructure to push growth in the sector. The impact: Animation companies are now moving up the value chain. They have transformed themselves from being back-office service providers to suppliers of content and retail products to the world market.“Movies like Ganesha and The Return of Hanuman are indicators of the industry moving up the value chain,” says R Krishnan, Executive Director, Aptech, a company that offers animation training through its brand Arena Animation.Hyderabad-based DQ Entertainment is expanding its footprint globally. The company has made about five films in collaboration with global animation companies such as Moonscoop, Harvey Entertainment, American Greetings and Method Films.Infrastructure needs for such companies are growing, with the forging of international tie-ups. So, the Andhra Pradesh government is looking at creating a 200-acre animation city in Hyderabad by the year-end.The city will also have a Digital Entertainment City Task Force (DECTF), comprising representatives of the industry and state government to monitor the quality of work done by companies.Wipro, meanwhile, is pursuing animation projects from Japan and North America. However, there is huge shortage of trained manpower in this industry.According to a NASSCOM study, India will need over 3 lakh professionals in content development and animation by the year-end to cope with the growing demand. At present, there are only 12,000 professionals in this segment. While low overhead costs make India a hub for outsourcing of post-production work, the talent crunch could take away the cost advantage, say experts. The animation market in India is estimated now at $285 million and is expected to touch $1 billion by 2010.