Animation

Eligibility and admission process:
Those interested in pursuing a career in the gaming industry should focus on gaining awareness with computer programming in an object-oriented language such as C+ or Java, from their high school level, so that they can build a bright future for themselves.
Several certificates and diploma programmes in game designing are offered by various institutions. Advanced Diploma in Game Design; Diploma in Game Design and Gaming; Video Game Design and Development Certification; Video Game Design and Development etc. are some of the courses. The minimum eligibility required for most of these courses is 10+2 or its equivalent. For becoming a Game programmer, one should have B.E/ B.Tech degree in computer engineering.
Job profiles -
Game Designer
Game Programmer
Game Artist
Animator
In India market, joining salaries of freshers are around Rs 4.5 lakh per annum for programmers and designers and Rs 3.5 lakh for Graphic Artists and Game Developers. Indian gaming industry is undergoing a makeover and lots of scopes are coming up.

Game designers obviously focus on designing games. This is quite different in terms of the work vs. animators who usually work on movies or commercials. Whether it be game design or animation, there are many specific skills to learn and to concentrate in. You have the modeling of the characters (which is akin to digital sculpture), character animation, which requires good fine art skills and drawing of faces, environmental design, which is essentially designing the background for the characters, texturing (for skin and fur), lighting, rigging (to get the character to move correctly) and more.
I guess the bottom line is that:
1. You need to decide whether you want the programming side or the design side.
2. If design, majoring in either game design or animation would probably be just as good for developing the above-mentioned design skills. However, if you want character animation or environmental design, it is crucial that you develop your drawing and illustration skills particularly of characters. Other aspects of animation don't need this as much.
3Ds Max
3Ds Max offers better interoperability with other Autodesk products.
Many prefer 3Ds Max for materials and rendering due to the ease of materials setup.
Getting the most out of 3Ds Max can require some scripting using MaxScript.

According to me, Game design and development is much better as compare to 3DS Max, because by learning any software you can't give great output, for a great output, you have to work on your things in some manner and you should decide some goal so for that you can choose Game design and development.
There is a vast difference between learning a tool and learn to using that tool for your own work, if you will learn how to use any tool for your own work, you will be able to complete your work in a proper manner or if you are focusing only tool, then you will not be able to work beyond that. By learning only 3DS Max, you are making your own limits. But, to survive or to create something you should learn how to use 3DS Max or any other software for your own concept.
So, go through Game Design and Development and learn the way to use tools, not only the tool by that you can execute your own ideas and thoughts. And by learning 3DS Max, you can do so many work, but that also will be limited, because you will not be able to draw the things in that and you will not be able to make any video and present your own thoughts.

Animation institutes and colleges are way behind the industry standards in terms of software use as well as current techniques in the animation industry. They use decade old software to teach, as the institution can't afford to update the software and the hardware. Many don't even know of devices called the Pen Tablet and Cintiq, which is what the international studios use. The teachers are themselves not creative or talented enough to teach and give industry standard assignments.
The faculty members at the institute mostly comprised animators or graphic designers who had turned to teaching, because they themselves could not find better jobs in the industry. One of the biggest challenges that the animation industry is currently facing is the demand-supply gap. This is mainly due to the non-availability of adequate human resources for the animation industry.

This is not true. Many of the foreign made films were created in Indian studios under the banner of foreign studios.
Indian production houses like Tata and Reliance are now investing in the animation market and team up with Indian filmmakers to create animated features that have extensive appeal and keep amused their native audiences.
There are good and bad production houses in India- same as anywhere in the world.
We might be compromising on the quality, doing things in short cut which makes our domestic projects look of low quality. What we need is a fair education in animation(no short cuts), equipments to learn and study, scholarships like students of medical and engineering fields are given, wisdom to choose good companies to work at, salary equal to an IT fresher and a big heart to be willing to learn.

If your foundation in 2D/3D animation is good it is better to look for a job or freelance for a while because one learns more while on the job than while studying. You will have to be wise to choose where to work and how much you will earn because there are employers who cheat freshers and pay them as low as 5 thousand per month. But if you are living with your parents and do not have to worry about your expenses then its ok with such a low pay because experience is more important. For your next job you may ask for a higher salary(minimum 15 thousand rupees per month). You can also freelance for a while. There are numerous websites that you can use to get freelance projects. However you must proceed with caution there as well. Use only reputable websites.
If at all you feel your animation basics are not strong enough and you are thirsty to learn more you can option for higher studies.