New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have joined hands to expand access to professional training for India’s emerging creative talent, offering scholarships to 100 students and working professionals across six programmes.
The scholarships will cover up to 80% of programme fees and span two one-year diploma courses and four six-month certificate programmes. The courses include Interactive Comics & Sequential Arts, Visual Effects Mastery, Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports & Gaming Management.
The initiative is part of the Netflix India Storytelling Initiative, launched following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos on August 5, 2026. During the meeting, Modi highlighted India’s long storytelling tradition and deep pool of creative talent, while pointing to the potential to position the country as a global hub for content creation.
The partnership aims to strengthen the talent pipeline for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics ecosystem, a key component of India’s emerging creative economy, while giving learners access to industry-oriented skills and global production practices.
The curriculum for IICT’s Visual Effects Mastery and Media Tech Workflow programmes has been developed with inputs from Netflix and is aligned with contemporary industry workflows and global standards.
Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Chairman, IICT Board, 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.
The scholarship initiative is open to students and working professionals from across India. IICT, established by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra, FICCI and CII, serves as the national centre of excellence for the AVGC-XR sector.
The institute currently operates from the NFDC Complex on Pedder Road in Mumbai, while a permanent 10-acre campus is being developed at Film City, Goregaon. Details of the scholarship programmes are available at iict.org.
BI Bureau
