India opens IICT campus in Mumbai for creative tech education with a Rs 400 crore push

In a major boost to India’s media and entertainment education sector, the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) was inaugurated at the NFDC Films Division Complex on Mumbai’s Pedder Road. Union information & broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis jointly opened the state-of-the-art campus and unveiled its official logo. Academic sessions are set to begin in September 2025.

The event saw the presence of key dignitaries, including MIB secretary Sanjay Jaju, Maharashtra culture minister Ashish Shelar, IFFI festival director Shekhar Kapur, and CBFC chairperson and lyricist Prasoon Joshi.

The inaugural batch will train 300 students, with a second campus planned at Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai within two years. The initiative is backed by a Rs 400 crore budget.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Prasar Bharati and the Government of Maharashtra, represented by the Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation. The pact aims to develop an Integrated Film and Television Media Hub to bolster skill development, innovation, and global competitiveness in the AVGC-XR sector.

Maharashtra CM expressed hope about IICT Campus emerging not only as an institution of world-class education, but also as an architectural and cultural landmark that attracts people from across the globe. He further said that the Bharat Pavilion which was highly appreciated at Waves 2025, and now relocated to Gulshan Mahal in NMIC, will add a new cultural destination in Mumbai’s tourism circuit. He also informed that the Waves Index, which was announced during Waves and initially comprised 42 companies, with a collective valuation of approximately Rs 93,000 crore, has crossed Rs 1 lakh crores in a short duration. This clearly reflects the rapid growth and immense potential of the creators’ economy, he said.

Fadnavis stated, “Waves has now become a movement and we are hearing a global echo of the event.  Waves has started a new churning for the creative economy. To give a major boost to the Waves initiative and the creators’ economy, the Maharashtra Government has decided to allocate Rs 150 crore. Initially it comprised 42 companies, with a collective valuation of approximately Rs 93,000 crore, it has crossed Rs 1 lakh crores in a short duration. This clearly reflects the rapid growth and immense potential of the creators’ economy.”

Union minister Vaishnaw sheds light on the rapid execution of the first campus and said it would offer cutting-edge, industry-aligned programmes in VFX, XR, animation, gaming and post-production. The minister highlighted IICT’s emphasis on industry-academia collaboration, with formal partnerships in place with big tech giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Nvidia And WPP.

Speaking at the inauguration, Vaishnaw said, “In this creative world, technology has become an integral part and it is important that we empower people who want to be part of the creator economy. I am glad that in such a short span we have inaugurated the first NFDC IICT campus in Mumbai. I have personally gone through the architectural presentations in detail for the campus, and I assure you it is going to be one of the finest campuses.”

The Mumbai campus is set to feature high-end infrastructure, including advanced media labs, animation and XR suites, and smart classrooms designed to meet global standards, promising a future-ready creative learning ecosystem.

Also read: Indian Institute of Creative Technologies unveils 17 AVGC-XR courses for inaugural batch beginning this August

Also read: Union I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis inaugurate IICT Campus in Mumbai