Karnataka AVGC-XR Policy 3.0 (2024–29)
A five-year policy (2024–29) implemented by KITS (Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society) for a state that already accounts for 20% of India's Media & Entertainment industry, with 300+ specialised AVGC-XR studios, 15,000+ professionals, India's first AVGC-XR Centre of Excellence, and a network of 5 animation, 3 VFX and 12 gaming-focused institutes. Incentives are disbursed to KAVGC-registered companies against a detailed operational guidelines framework rather than a single headline outlay figure.
Incentives & provisions
- Training fee reimbursement
- Up to 50% reimbursement of accredited training-course fees, capped at ₹7.5 lakh per company for the policy period.
- PF/ESI reimbursement for new jobs
- ₹3,000 per employee per month reimbursed toward employer PF/ESI contributions for each new employee's first year, capped at ₹12 lakh per company for the policy period.
- Early-stage startup support
- For companies under 2 years old: up to 40% of marketing costs (cap ₹1 lakh), 40% of office/co-working rental (cap ₹2 lakh), 50% of server rental (cap ₹50,000), and 50% of legal/compliance setup costs (cap ₹2 lakh), all per company for the policy period.
- Infrastructure support
- 20% of IT hardware purchase cost, capped at ₹20 lakh (up to 5 sanctions per company), plus 20% of office rental cost, capped at ₹5 lakh per company, for the policy period.
- IP creation & protection
- 50% of IP filing and legal-consultation costs, capped at ₹20 lakh for international IP and ₹5 lakh for domestic IP per company for the policy period — half paid on filing, half on grant.
- Production grants — animation & VFX
- 20% of qualified production expenditure reimbursed: animation films capped at ₹50 lakh (2 sanctions); animation series capped ₹5–15 lakh per episode by runtime, minimum 10 episodes (5 sanctions); VR/AR/VFX projects capped at ₹50 lakh (3 sanctions) — all per company for the policy period.
- Production grants — game development
- 20% of qualified expenditure for mobile and non-mobile game development, capped at ₹5 lakh, up to 2 sanctions per company for the policy period.
- Quality assurance certification
- 30% reimbursement of costs for obtaining recognised quality certifications (e.g. ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001), capped at ₹5 lakh, up to 3 sanctions per company for the policy period.
- International market access
- 40% reimbursement of costs for participating in international trade shows/expos, capped at ₹5 lakh per year (₹15 lakh total pool), up to 3 sanctions per company, covering up to 2 employees per event.
- KAVGC registration
- Companies must register as a KAVGC entity (₹10,000 one-time fee, waived for existing Karnataka IT-BT registrants) and employ at least 50% of their workforce in Karnataka to access any incentive under the policy.
Source: Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), Government of Karnataka — AVGC-XR Policy 3.0 (2024–29) Operational Guidelines. Terms are structured from the primary source and updated as the policy changes — this page always reflects the latest known version. (archived copy) Originally reported by AnimationXpress.