The Extended Realities (XR) sector has the potential to create around 2 million high value jobs by 2030, a new IIT-Madras study has found.
The report, released on Monday by the Experiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) located in IIT-M, analyses the Tamil Nadu AVGC-XR Policy 2026 and recommends establishing an integrated “XR Corridor” or “XR Superhighway” that combines XR innovation, skill development, and manufacturing centres. More than 1000 startups and 1000 SMEs operate in the sector, the report noted.
While appreciating Tamil Nadu’s ambition to capture 20 per cent of India’s XR market and generate 200,000 service-oriented jobs, the report cautions that relying solely on a “service provider” model could limit long-term value creation and global competitiveness.
It recommends adopting a 50-50 workforce design principle. This means that specifically, at least half of the 2 million XR jobs are advised to focus on game engine development, original Intellectual Property creation, R&D and AI-driven immersive technologies.
India can reduce import dependence by leveraging Tamil Nadu’s existing electronics and manufacturing corridors to build indigenous capabilities in the areas of head-mounted displays, trackers and haptic interfaces, thus strengthening India’s position in the global XR hardware value chain, the report adds.
Prof. M. Manivannan, faculty of XTIC, said in a statement, “We propose the creation of a State-level compute infrastructure such as a ‘TN-XR Cloud’, which would provide subsidised access to high-end Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)”. He also recommends making academia the anchor of the XR innovation ecosystem.
Among the policy “blind spots” identified by the report are the absence of a dedicated framework for AI-generated XR assets, governance policy/standards for metaverse, especially around child safety.