Mumbai, 26 August 2026

The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have announced scholarships for 100 students, offering up to 80% financial support across six professional programmes comprising two one-year diploma programmes and four six-month certificate programmes.

The six programmes covered under the scholarship initiative are the Diplomas in Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts and Visual Effects Mastery, Certificates in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports & Gaming Management.

The announcement follows the meeting between Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and Co CEO of Netflix  Mr. Ted Sarandos on 5th August, 2026. Shri Modi had remarked that India has a rich tradition of storytelling and an extraordinary pool of creative talent, which can be leveraged to strengthen our nation’s position as a global hub for content creation. The Netflix India Storytelling Initiative was launched then, with an aim to invest in India’s creative talent pipeline by helping equip the next generation of storytellers with industry-relevant skills across the Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) ecosystem, which serves as a key driver of India’s ‘Orange Economy’.

The scholarships will be available to students and working professionals across India.

The curriculum for IICT's Visual Effects Mastery and Media Tech Workflow programmes has been designed to align with contemporary industry workflows and global standards, with inputs from Netflix.

Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Chairman, IICT Board, Shri Chanchal Kumar said, "India's creative economy is at an inflection point. As technology transforms the way stories are created, the institutions shaping the next generation of talent must evolve with it. 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."

CEO, IICT, Dr. Vishwas Deoskar said, "The purpose of an institution like IICT is not only to impart skills, but to ensure that those skills remain relevant to the way the industry is evolving. This collaboration with Netflix brings that industry perspective directly into our academic framework, from curriculum design and professional workflows to the standards students will be expected to meet. 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."

Chairman, FICCI AVGC-XR Forum, Munjal Shroff said the FICCI-IICT-Netflix collaboration marks a shift towards industry-aligned talent development to 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, established by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra, FICCI and CII. The institute currently operates from the NFDC Complex, Pedder Road, Mumbai, while its permanent 10-acre campus is being developed at Film City, Goregaon. For more information on the scholarships and programmes, visit iict.org.

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PIB Mumbai | Sriyanka Chatterjee/Yash Rane/Darshana Rane

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