Karnataka built its ‘Orange Economy’ a decade before the term became a political buzzword: Priyank Kharge

Karnataka was the first State to realise the immense growth potential of the Orange Economy, make a serious foray into it and introduce the country’s maiden dedicated Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) Policy way back in 2012, well over a decade before the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister mentioned it, stated Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT-BT, on February 2.

Orange Economy refers to creative industries such as culture, arts, animation, gaming, special effects, film, music, design, fashion, digital content and other elements of soft power that foster innovation to create an economic ecosystem driven by creativity, culture and intellectual property.

Long before it became widely known, Karnataka had generated thousands of high-end jobs around Orange Economy, housed over 300 AVGC-XR (extended reality) studios that worked for several Hollywood movies, and also set up a world-class Centre of Excellence that offered 20% to 50% inputs to most Oscar-winning movies released globally, said the Minister.

Policy in place

“If anyone really understood the employment scope and economic potential of the Orange Economy, it was Karnataka. Not now, several years ago, that too, we were ready with an AVGC policy over a decade ago,’’ he said.

According to Mr. Kharge, the global creativity economy is pegged at $2 trillion, while India’s Orange Economy potential (addressable market) is $35 billion currently, indicating a huge economic opportunity.

India recorded a growth of over 20% in its AVGC sector in 2024, over the previous year, with the country’s AVGC export value touching $11 billion (excluding IT services exports). Interestingly, Karnataka, which currently employs over 15,000 AVGC professionals, had a share of over 50% in the country’s total AVGC exports last year.

“Backed by Bengaluru’s deep talent pool in digital content, gaming, VFX, XR, AI and real-time technologies, the State is targeting an ambitious growth in the sector, including creating over 50,000 jobs by the end of 2028,’’ Mr. Kharge added.

Event in city

Earlier, the Minister announced Bengaluru GAFX 2026, the 7th edition of Asia’s largest AVGC exposition scheduled to be held in the city between February 27 and March 1.

Themed ‘Evolution Reloaded’, GAFX 2026 will bring together content creators, studios, technologists, artists, investors and industry leaders from global media and entertainment sectors.

Speaking on the occasion, Biren Ghose, AVGC expert and President, ABAI (the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry) said, Karnataka has the right policies to fuel the Orange Economy. “The future of storytelling belongs to humans who can command new intelligence, including AI,’’ said Mr. Ghose.