Outsourcing leads to boom in India’s animation sector

Industry experts seem to be confident about the growth of animation industry in India, despite several hurdles such as funding and training manpower

Thiruvananthapuram-based Toonz Animation Studio is working on a full-fledged feature film 'Tommy and Oscar' for Italy's Rainbow Productions. It is also involved with a TV series, ‘Will o' the Wisp’, for Animoon Plc, UK, plus a big-budget 3D television series for a major US broadcaster. Toonz is also working on two original television series, ‘Maharaja Cowboy’ and ‘Paddy's Page’, along with an ambitious project, ‘The Adventures of Hanuman’. Korean production house ANI21 has engaged Toonz to produce its new animated show ‘Twin Princes’.

MICA, UTV Toons' first full 3-D animated series, is a collaboration between UTV and Ricochets Productions, France. The 26-episode series will be telecast on several channels across Europe, including France 5, ORBF Belgium, RTV Germany, Teletoon France and others.

New Zealand-based Applied Gravity has outsourced nearly 90% of its animation work to Nipuna Services, a BPO subsidiary of Satyam Computer Services.

Mumbai-based Maya Entertainment has produced special effects for ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Stuart Little’. Maya is animating short films, starring a character called Wabo, which the United Nations is using to educate worldwide audiences on the importance of fresh drinking water.

Walt Disney, Imax, Warner Brothers and Sony have sourced some of their major animation projects from various studios across India.

Cartoon Network is buying animation films made in India, while MTV has added India to its outsourcing hub along with the Philippines and South Korea.

Welcome to the new outsourcing fever that has gripped India. Animation is the latest buzz word in the IT outsourcing circles as Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram (or Trivandrum) have emerged as the country's major animation hubs.

A slew of corporates are making their presence felt in the outsourced world of animation and FX. These include Toonz Animation, Crest Communications, Maya Entertainment, Silvertoon Studio, Pentamedia Graphics, UTV Toons, ZEE Institute of Creative Arts, 2NZ Studios, Prasad Studios, Acropetal, Color Chips and Heart Animation.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) estimated the total revenues of the animation production services sector in India at around $200-300 million in 2004. The Indian animation industry is set to register an exponential growth, says Nasscom president Kiran Karnik. Sumathi Sridharan, head of production, PentaMedia Graphics, adds, “On an average, today the top ten animation production houses in India are doing a business of $10-12 million, annually.”

“Demand for animation production services from India is growing with the emergence of an organised animation production sector, with state-of -the-art of work required for international TV programme production, at substantially lower costs,” a Nasscom report said. The study, which is based on multiple statistical projections on the market, from segments such as industry sources, Pixel Inc and Arthur Andersen (Study on the Entertainment and Media sector) forecast that the global animation market would generate revenues worth $50-70 billion this year. The total animation production by India is likely to grow to $750 million by 2010.

If hard numbers sound gibberish to you, perhaps you may care to recall the antics of Simba in Disney's 'The Lion King', or the wow special effects of 'Finding Nemo', ‘Stuart Little’ and 'The Mummy'. These represent some of the better-known examples of Indian animation at Hollywood.

Indian animation, put simply, is rocking. The local animation sector is witnessing a major boom as overseas entertainment giants are increasingly outsourcing cartoon characters and special effects to India. In fact, the Indian allure is not restricted to films alone as international companies are apparently outsourcing animation for TVC and computer games as well.

The first reason isn't too difficult to understand. India offers low cost, good English speaking workforce, and talented technicians/studio artists. For instance, in the US, animators can cost about $125 an hour; in India, they cost $25 an hour. The total cost for making a full-length animated film in America is about $100-$175 million. In India, it can be made for $15-$25 million.

The second reason, according to Toonz Animation CEO P Jayakumar, is the quality of the Indian work. “It is world class. We have the best in software and hardware in India and our talent pool has the creative edge,” he said in an earlier interview. Toonz Animation Studio, based at Technopark in Kerala, is one of India's top animation companies. Among its famous work is its TV series, 'The Adventures of Tenali Raman'. Jayakumar has gone on record to say that animation work is “pouring in from the US, Europe and Asia in the form of outsourced projects and co-production deals”. Another reason that apparently contributes to the success of India-produced animation is our sense of humour; we understand Western humour more than the Chinese, Philippinos, Koreans and Taiwanese. These countries are India’s principal competitors in the global animation market.

Yet another factor, which is working in India’s favour, is local companies creating their own animated films based on characters in Indian folklore and mythology. These films are not just for the Indian audience as Indian mythological characters have a universal appeal. Take Hanuman for example. Revered as a god in India, he is called Shun Wu Kong, the wind monkey, in China; while in Thailand, he is the central character in Ramakiya, the country's most popular folk tale. Some believe the character of popular comic hero Superman is based on Hanuman’s.

PentaMedia’s Sridharan adds, “India’s core strength lies in 3D productions as our manpower is trained to operate the software very efficiently. However, we still need to improve our expertise in 2D or classical animation. In addition, we are only able to incorporate the production work out here, while the pre and post production works are still done in the originating countries, where business comes from.”

Despite the global recognition, the industry is still plagued by lack of awareness, little inflow of venture capital funds and absence of proper animation training programmes. Another major problem is lack of government support and financing. While the centre and every state government have come out with liberal policies to help out software companies, no governmental policy or programme exists for animation companies.

What’s more, access to venture capital funding, deft or equity financing for animation firms are preventing the industry from gaining stakes in co-production or bringing more work into the country.

A recent Nasscom study on the animation industry in India came out with a series of recommendations to position the Indian animation studios to global excellence.

Some of these recommendations are:

Set up animation parks on the lines of the software technology parks.

Increase the level of interest of audiences in the domestic market in animation.

Enter into co-production tie-ups with countries such as Canada to develop animation content, and arrangements with producers/studios in the US.

Increase the range of applications for animation such as documentaries, etc.

Develop a national brand identification in animation.

Strengthen the interface between local studios and producers.

Have a representation in major international animation markets and festivals.

Create assured off-take of locally produced original animation productions by domestic broadcasters.

Provide relevant funding and infrastructure for animation product development.

Take a series of strategic initiatives to build a body of manpower talent to fuel the growth of this market.

Import hardware and software equipment to develop and strengthen the supply base of animation production studios.

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