We See AR/VR Content Creation Booming, Aviation and Hospitality Growing Faster than AVGC: Aptech CBO Sandip Weling

In an exclusive conversation with Shiksha.com Sandip Weling, CBO Global Retail Business, Aptech Ltd., discusses how India's animation, gaming, and AR/VR sectors are poised for growth at 18% CAGR till FY29, has over 50,000 Students Currently Enrolled in various courses and other initiatives being launched…

India’s Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) sector is witnessing a robust revival and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17-18% till FY29, says Sandip Weling, CBO Global Retail Business, Aptech Ltd In an exclusive conversation, Jain highlights how Aptech is ramping up its aviation and hospitality training verticals and integrating GenAI for improved evaluation and learning outcomes. The vocational education provider currently has an active student base of over 50,000–55,000 learners enrolled across its two key brands—Arena Animation and MAAC—as well as other verticals including Aptech Aviation.

Q. Just to get a perspective on the overall animation sector, virtual reality and gaming — how do you see it growing in India with technology interventions?

Sandip Weling: So, if I look at the last couple of years — I’d say about 18 months — the VFX industry globally has been impacted, and that has had some impact on India as well.

But now it has started recovering. The reports coming in, and our sense of the market, indicate that the AVGC industry (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) is slated to grow at a CAGR of around 17 to 18 percent till FY29.

From now till FY29, if I talk of the next three years specifically, the expected CAGR remains at 17 to 18 percent. We are also in the beauty and wellness space — incidentally, that segment is growing at the same pace.

So, 18 to 19 percent is what we expect in the segments we operate in. The aviation and hospitality segment, however, is growing at a slightly faster pace — we’re estimating 22 to 23 percent CAGR over the next two to three years.

Q. So what are you doing in aviation and hospitality in terms of offering courses?

Sandip Weling: Aviation was a relatively small business for us. But we’ve now decided to reignite that business because of the way hospitality chains are expanding — front office management and similar roles are gaining traction.

With the massive thrust on aviation, more airlines entering the Indian market, and new airports and infrastructure coming up, this segment is slated to grow at 20 to 23 percent CAGR. So we’re planning to participate actively in that growth. The decision to scale up was taken just two to three months ago.

Q. So students are admitted through Aptech for courses in aviation?

Sandip Weling: Yes, through Aptech. The brand is Aptech, and we have an academy called Aptech Aviation — that’s the vertical. We’re already in that business, but now we want to scale it up significantly.

You’ll see a lot of action happening there — increasing our footprint, reaching out to more DGs. We're planning to set up our own centers and look at alliances with airports and the hospitality industry. So yes, you'll see a lot happening in that space.

Q. And for jobs related to AR and VR technologies, how do you see it growing? Not just in numbers — what kind of roles are going to emerge?

Sandip Weling: That’s a very interesting question. Over the last four to five years, AR and VR — what we now call XR (Extended Reality) or experiential design — have been growing, especially in consumer experience areas.

Marketers everywhere are trying to build stickiness, and AR/VR is an extremely useful tool for that. Everyone wants to offer something immersive — whether it's an automobile company or real estate developers.

For example, if you're selling a ₹5 or ₹6 crore apartment, just showing images won’t cut it. But giving a VR-based immersive tour? That makes a big difference. Today, almost every developer’s office has a VR setup to provide that experience — something that was unheard of a decade ago.

So, the use cases for AR/VR are growing in service selling. This will lead to a huge demand for content creators. We offer specialized courses through both our brands — Arena and MAAC — that cater specifically to AR/VR.

Q. And entry to these courses is after 10+2?

Sandip Weling: Essentially, yes. That level of maturity is typically needed. But we also cater to older learners — most of our courses start from scratch. We were discussing this just this morning while reviewing our virtual production curriculum.

So yes, we start at base level and take in people across different age groups and backgrounds.

Q. Everyone is working with Gen AI to generate content. But you’ve flipped the approach and are using it to evaluate content generated by AI or humans. How did this idea come to you?

Sandip Weling: On average, we onboard about 35,000 students annually for vocational training in the AVGC space across our two brands. At any given time, our ecosystem includes around 50,000 to 55,000 students — since our courses range from 6 months to 2.5-3 years.

One major pain point was the assessment process — every semester involves multiple assessments. The volume of evaluations, and the need for consistency, started becoming a concern.

Just imagine: one assessment per student takes 8–10 minutes. For a batch of 50 students, that’s a lot of time — and fatigue sets in. That leads to inconsistent and sometimes superficial feedback.

So we thought, why not use a tool to institutionalize the process? For the student, it should clearly highlight what needs improvement — not just vague over-the-shoulder comments. Our commitment is to make students job-ready, and this helps improve their creative output and employability.

Even those who want to freelance — and we’re seeing 25–30% of our students wanting to do that — will benefit. Because knowing what to improve and how precisely is the key to growing as a creative professional.

Q. Developing the idea into a platform must have been challenging. How do you see Gen AI changing the education sector?

Sandip Weling: I won’t go into specific products from China or India, but as I mentioned earlier, I think one area where Gen AI will create a major positive impact is education.

Today, the quality of a learner’s experience largely depends on who delivers the content — not the content itself. You might have the best books and materials, but ultimately it depends on the mentor at a particular center, say, in Visakhapatnam.

So there’s an element of “humanization” here. If we use AI as a collaborative tool, instead of viewing it as a threat, it can be powerful. People worry about job loss, but we are using AI to support — not replace — the evaluator.

An evaluator may be fatigued by the end of the day. The feedback given to a 6 PM batch should be as high-quality as that given at 10 AM. So we see AI as assistive — a way to maintain quality and consistency.

The same logic applies across domains: let AI handle repetitive tasks that don’t require human insight. Teachers and mentors should focus their time on qualitative, high-value work. So yes, it’s about empowerment, not replacement.

We should give educators better tools to do their jobs — that’s the efficiency we should be aiming for.

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