I&B Ministry
Union cabinet clears AVGC National Centre of Excellence
MUMBAI: The Modi-led central government is putting its might behind the AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming, comics &XR ) component of the media & entertainment sector. It has followed up its announcement a couple of weeks ago about the setting up of a National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) in Mumbai by getting the plan cleared by the union cabinet.
The NCoE is planned to be set up as a section 8 company under the Companies Act 2013 with equity participation from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & industry (Ficci) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian government. More than Rs 500 crore is to be pumped into the centre by the government, possibly through the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). .
Provisionally named the Indian Institute for Immersive Creators (IIIC), the center aims to revolutionise the AVGC sector and foster innovation in immersive technologies. It is planned to be modelled after the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) with a sharp focus on creating content for India and the world.
A press release issued by the ministry of information & broadcasting on 29 September said that the idea is to create “a world class talent pool in India to cater to the Indian as well as global entertainment industry and make India a global hub for AVGC.”
With rapidly evolving technology and increasing internet penetration all across the country, coupled with one of the cheapest data rates, the usage of AVGC-XR globally is poised to grow at an exponential pace. This is bound to create abundant opportunities, particularly through the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE).
Some of its key objectives are:
* Focusing on creating Indian IP
* Leveraging India’s cultural heritage in new age
* Create a multiplier effect in the industry
* An industry led initiative, in partnership with state and academia
* Integrated focus on education, skilling industry, development, innovation
* Hub and spoke model of development to be followed
* IIIC as the hub and several centers as its spokes dedicated innovation and research fund to promote start-up ecosystem.
The NCoE is being planned to provide a fertile platform for immersive tech – including virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, 3D modelling, animation, comics and gaming – by offering cutting-edge training and integrate India’s rich cultural heritage with modern technology, fostering the creation of indigenous intellectual property (IP) and building the future of India’s digital creative economy.
The target is to create an estimated 500,00 jobs, with students gaining practical experience through industry-driven courses, ensuring they are job-ready upon graduation. Those graduating will be provided with internships while start-ups will be mentored.
It may be recalled that union minister of finance & corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the 2022-23 budget that an AVGC task force would to created. The NCoE is one of the recommendations of the task force.
I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
