Animation, gaming industry offers scope to students: President

Set to grow at 10 percent per annum over the next two years, the global animation and gaming industry offered tremendous opportunities to students in conceptualising and creating animation to make a name for the country in creative areas, President Pratibha Patil said on Friday.

Patil said the industry is expected to touch $170 billion in the next two years and "as a result, Indian animation and gaming sector, deriving revenue from international production houses and game development companies, is on the cusp of significant growth".

The president was speaking at the inauguration of the DSK Supinfocom's campus at Hadapsar, on the outskirts of Pune, set up in collaboration with Supinfocom, France.

Patil expressed happiness that the DSK group had not forgotten its social commitments despite its business avatar.

She appealed to the group head, D.S. Kulkarni, to focus on basic problems such as bringing more rain-fed land in the rural areas under irrigation and in promoting renewable energy such as solar, wind and hydro by reducing the cost of these technologies.

The French ambassador to India, Francois Richier, said creation of the beautiful campus of 20 acres in less than two years can only be a product of men and women of vision.

He said digital technology and education are both fields of increasing cooperation between France and India.

Kulkarni said he had risen from an humble background and assured that he would strive all his life to make things better for the youth of the country.

Situated on a lush green 20-acre plot, DSK Supinfocom is India's first and only international campus offering professional courses in the fields of animation, game and industrial design.

It is a joint venture between the Pune-based DSK Group and Chamber of Commerce & Industry of North de France, with the latter controlling the academics through a fully European team of trainers.