Budget 2026 backs India’s creative economy with 15,000 content creator labs, a new NID and Rs 250 crore for AVCG talent development.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents Union Budget 2026 with a strong push for content creation and design education (Photo: File)
Union Budget 2026: The Union Budget for the year 2026 reflects the rapidly expanding creative economy in India, placing it firmly on the country’s growth agenda. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s focus on content creation, design and animation indicates a shift in perspective from viewing cultural industries as marginal arts to viewing them as serious employment and export opportunities in the digital economy.
The Budget enhances targeted aid in the Orange Economy, animation, visual effects, gaming and comics. The AVCG industry is projected to need almost 2 million highly qualified professionals by 2030 to address this challenge, the government aims to develop talent from an early stage. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 extended support to the Orange Economy.
A new and bold initiative begins with 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges receiving content creator labs. These labs will be supported by the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies in Mumbai and are intended to encourage young people to take up animation, comics, gaming and digital storytelling from a young age, reaching beyond the metro areas.
Together with the creator labs, the Budget also announces the establishment of a National Institute of Design in eastern India through the Challenge Route because the design industry is growing rapidly but faces a talent gap and this will help to reduce the concentration of design education in a particular region.
This is further reinforced by the financial component and the budget doubles the investment in the National Film Development Corporation and the National Centre of Excellence for AVGC-XR to Rs 35 crore. In addition, Rs 250 crore has been allocated for the development of AVGC talent in Budget 2026-27.
It has also allocated Rs 35 crore for National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Extended Reality (NCoE AVGC-XR). The allocation is up from Rs 17 crore in Budget 2025-26.
The proposal to establish five university townships along major industrial corridors has to do with connecting education and employment. In the creative fields, proximity to industry translates to exposure, projects and a smooth transition from education to employment.
