VMPL
Gurgaon (Haryana) [India], June 6: When the Haryana government unveiled its industrial policy package last month, one announcement stood apart from the usual manufacturing and infrastructure commitments: a dedicated policy for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality the AVGC-XR sector.
The policy, launched by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, was part of a larger push under the Make in Haryana 2026 vision that saw MoUs worth over ₹1.10 lakh crore signed across sectors. But for the state's growing community of creators, designers, and digital professionals, the AVGC-XR policy felt more personal.
Gurgaon-based media-tech company HKI Media read the moment as an opening. Days after the launch, the company announced plans to build a ₹10 crore Centre of Excellence (CoE) for AVGC-XR in Haryana positioning itself as one of the first movers in what it believes will become a competitive market for creative technology infrastructure.
What the Centre Is Meant to Do
The CoE, as HKI Media envisions it, is less a training institute and more an integrated ecosystem play. The facility is planned to house R&D capabilities, startup incubation, IP creation labs, and production infrastructure covering everything from VFX and gaming to virtual production and immersive experiences.
The skilling arm of the initiative will be run through ICASA (Indian Centre for Arts, Skills & Advancement), which HKI Media describes as operating on a Learn • Create • Work & Earn model designed to move students from training into employment or entrepreneurship within the sector.
"The objective is to build state-of-the-art infrastructure, nurture world-class talent, encourage innovation, and support startups," said Abhimanyu Sihag, CEO, HKI Media.
Why Haryana, Why Now
Haryana already has an informal reputation as a content production hub, particularly in music, where the state has produced artists with national and global audiences. What it has lacked, historically, is the structured infrastructure to convert that creative output into a scalable industry.
The AVGC-XR policy attempts to address that gap directly, offering a framework for investment, IP creation, and talent development in sectors that India has consistently underperformed in relative to its market size and technical workforce.
India's AVGC sector has long been dominated by service-side work studios providing animation and VFX for international productions. The policy push in states like Haryana, Karnataka, and Telangana signals a broader ambition to move up the value chain toward original IP and domestic IP ownership.
The Larger Picture
HKI Media is a relatively early-stage company with four verticals: GigMedia (creator economy infrastructure), GigQuest (talent discovery), ICASA (skilling), and HKI Studio (content production). The ₹10 crore CoE announcement is its largest stated commitment to date and places it squarely within a policy-driven opportunity window.
Whether the infrastructure materializes at the scale announced and whether the talent pipeline it aims to build finds sufficient industry demand will depend as much on how aggressively the state activates its AVGC-XR policy as on HKI Media's own execution.
For now, the signal is clear: Haryana is signaling that it wants a seat at the table in India's creative technology future. And a handful of companies are already raising their hands.
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