Pointing out that the Indian government is working relentlessly to bring down incidences and percentage of film piracy, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju said that the southern Indian city of Hyderabad will soon get a regional center of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) to further strengthen the growth of the gaming, animation and digital entertainment industries.

Addressing the WAVES Animation Bazaar and the 8th edition of IndiaJoy 2025 in Hyderabad on Saturday, Jaju, according to an official statement, said, “The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, the first of its kind in the country, will be established across India, and one of its campuses will soon come up in Hyderabad.”

Highlighting the contribution of the Telugu film industry and the Telangana State Government’s efforts in promoting the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) sector, the senior federal government official said Hyderabad continues to consolidate its position as the hub of India’s AVGC ecosystem, driving the growth of the nation’s creative economy.

“India’s media and entertainment sector is rapidly expanding, serving as a vital expression of the nation’s soft power,” the official statement quoted him as saying.

Speaking about the WAVES initiative, conceptualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaju said it envisions India as a global leader in creativity and digital innovation, and South India, particularly Hyderabad, plays a pivotal role in driving Indian cinema and creative technologies.

Many pan-India films have been produced from Hyderabad, supported by world-class studios and a policy framework that encourages innovation and artistic excellence, he observed.

Drawing on a cricket analogy, he further added that just as IPL transformed Indian cricket, the WAVES initiative was poised to revolutionise the Indian film industry by integrating creativity with technology and building a global platform for collaboration and innovation.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the IICT and the State government’s T-Hub to promote start-up incubation and innovation in the media and entertainment sector.

The expo at IndiaJoy also showcased start-ups being incubated under the WAVEX initiative and the IPs created by winners of Create in India Challenge Season 1.

Later, while interacting with the Telugu and Malayalam film producers as part of the annual film festival roundtable he chaired, Jaju reaffirmed that the federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was working tirelessly to combat the growing threat of piracy to Indian cinema.

The WAVES Animation Bazaar and IndiaJoy 2025 are being organised in collaboration with the MIB and the two-day event showcases India’s creative economy across films, e-sports, VFX, animation, OTT, comics and other emerging digital entertainment sectors.

The event was attended by Telangana’s Minister for IT Duddilla Sridhar Babu, amongst other local film personalities.