Sony will shut down its South animation unit

The Chennai unit of Sony Pictures Imageworks, the visual effects and animation unit of Sony Pictures Digital Production has decided to shut down their south unit by March 31. 

Sony Pictures Imageworks came India in 2007 by acquiring a 51 per cent equity stake in Chennai-based FrameFlow. However, the company didn’t give clear answer for this action of exiting India. Its officials stated that Sony Pictures Imageworks will not renew its lease in Chennai, India, when it expires in March. Its animators in Chennai primarily performed two functions — rotoscoping and match moving. Sony Pictures animation made significant contributions to such production as Men in Black 3 and upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

The shutting down of the Chennai facility, which at its peak had 140 employees, comes nearly 20 months after a similar facility in New Mexico was closed. Many of its employees have already quit

With the closure of the animation unit, and that too without a stated reason, there are various theories floating around as to what caused the exit. An industry official said, "Some of the Western countries such as Canada offer tax rebates; India does not. So, I guess this was one of the factors why they decided to shut down, though the reasons are not clear."

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4277-sony-will-shut-down-its-south-animation-unit.html