Online gaming: Government working to evolve regulatory roadmap

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, July 20

The government on Wednesday informed Parliament that it was working to evolve a possible regulatory roadmap to promote online gaming business in India.

Noting that the sector had the potential to become the torchbearer of “Create in India” and Brand India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in the Lok Sabha that online gaming as an industry is evolving and has expanded across horizons.

“This Ministry has been interacting with the online gaming platforms and other stakeholders to evolve a possible roadmap of regulation so as to promote ease of doing business and to provide suitable eco-system for the indigenous platforms,” MoS IT MInistry Rajeev Chandrashekhar said.

He said as per the information received from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector in India has the potential to become the torch-bearer of “Create in India “ and “Brand India “.

“In pursuance of the announcement made in the Union Budget 2022-23 and to further unleash the scope of AVGC sector, an Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force has been constituted on April 8, 2022, to promote the AVGC Sector,’ the government added.

The terms of reference of the AVGC promotion task force include facilitation of skilling initiatives, promotion and market development activities to extend global reach of Indian AVGC industry, boosting of employment opportunities and incentives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in the AVGC Sector to make India a favourite destination for ease of doing business.

The number of online gamers in India rose to nearly 400 million by mid 2020 from 250 million at the end of fiscal year 2018-19.

India has the second largest segment of online gamers in the world after China.

Online gaming, a principal part of total gaming, is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 29 per cent over the next four years and is projected to touch Rs 169 billion by 2025.