There is great interest in the United States for outsourcing post-production work in the entertainment and media industry to India, US-based experts on animation and visual effects said in Chennai on Tuesday.

"In the US, India was perceived as a country that did not have the capability to handle post-production works for films. But now there is a change in the perception and India is increasingly becoming a favourable destination for post production and 3D content development activity," George Merkert, an academy award nominee for visual effects, told reporters in Chennai.

"The infrastructure is available in India and 50 to 60 per cent of post-production works like photography, visual effects can be outsourced to India," he added.

The entertainment and media industry is on an upswing after three years of sluggish growth, caused by economic weakness and terrorism. A report states that the global film entertainment market is set to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent, reaching $108 billion in 2008.

"The film industry has become global and is going to grow as a very large industry. With so much so background on arts and related subjects, India can be a major player in the animation industry," said Tim McGovern, an Academy award winner for visual effects.

"There is a mismatch between what the institutes teach and what the industry wants," Madhu Sudhanan, an expert on animation and visual effects said. There was an immediate need to increase awareness about the industry and to attract talent to offer quality training programmes, he said.

Madhu Sudanan also said that training programmes should focus on training students comprehensively on all skills and those that best suited the individual's aptitude.

He said there was a surge in demand for highly skilled and trained workforce that merges technical and artistic capabilities. There are a lot of Indians currently working for international productions and studios, he said.

Sudanan said that since the industry has become global now, there would be enormous career opportunities in a range of activities -- from technology-based jobs like scanning, compositing, digital ink and paint and game designing, to creative-based work like visual effects supervising, 3D modelling and character animation.

He also said that IT infrastructure would play a major role in the growth of the animation industry in India.

"Intellectual property rights is the critical issue in the animation industry. Along with piracy, the protection of rights is also the biggest issue faced by the industry."

The meeting was organised by the Chennai-based training institute, Image College of Arts, Animation and Technology, which offers courses in 3D animation, visual effects and game development.