It is very sensational how things have moved in the Indian Online Gaming space. Despite the chaos and dismay, we have figured out how to live within the course of the pandemic, as the sector unobtrusively still keeps moving on. Indeed, even in these tremulous times, online gaming has been developing at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of more than 20% year on year, scoring up almost US $1 billion in incomes in 2020-21 and seeing the number of gamers running to new highs. Just last year, the number of online gamers in India leaped to 350 million. Last week, Ernst and Young (EY), banding together with the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), delivered its report on Online Gaming in India, and a portion of the bits of knowledge are very economy-defying.

The numbers are not to be trifled with, for they come when most portions of the economy have been beating through the COVID-19 emergency, with myriad industries like telecom, aviation, hospitality, chemicals, infrastructure, real estate, manufacturing, and automobiles hitting a southward spiral.

This is one for the set of experiences books, as things are working out. At the point when most industry portions are sliding, online gaming is developing by more than 20% yearly and giving sound duty commitments to the exchequer. Given a wise administrative push, things will just improve.

More numbers, you say? Universally, the market size and yearly development mirror a vigorous upward trend in online gaming incomes estimated to increase from US $38 billion in 2019 to US $122 billion by 2025. In India, the online skill gaming industry isn’t continuing on comparable lines; it is much quicker. The homegrown market is estimated to develop from the US $906 million in 2019 to more than US $2 billion in 2023, a CAGR of almost 22%.
Obviously, the homegrown industry can scale twofold fast and become a significant supporter of job creation and work, skill development, flooding export potential, and a hefty contributor of taxes and levies. What has worked is digitization, introducing simpler user access and more noteworthy responsibility to a hitherto unorganized sector. What has additionally worked is the blast in Smartphone numbers, with more than 90% of online gamers utilizing this gadget for gaming.

It is incomprehensible that an industry that gives work to individuals, development to its representatives, and rising GST commitments to the Government remains frequently misconstrued, with variegated discussions around ‘game of skills’ and ‘game of chance’. Truth be told, a few states have even passed laws scrutinizing the veracity of the online gaming sectors, prompting the Madras High Court’s historical judgment recently, which hammered and put away the Tamil Nadu Government’s choice to boycott online gaming. The Supreme Court has additionally decided that online gaming is far separated from betting on four distinct events.

Yet, the discussion rages on, to a degree that the Central Government has been compelled to pay heed and ask NITI Aayog (the erstwhile Planning Commission) to investigate the subtleties of the industry and come up with suggestions. After consultations, NITI Aayog expressed in a new report that the number of users in the online gaming and fantasy sports sector has expanded fundamentally throughout the year, adding that “the sector can draw in a foreign venture, increase development, produce work in India and (obviously) add to the exchequer in terms of taxes and levies”.

Further, NITI Aayog, observing the flooding development in online gaming, suggested the setting up of an all-inclusive, centralized self-administrative body to govern the sector, an independent board that would drift over oversights of any sort. It likewise put in certain disclaimers, including an age cap on Fantasy Games, covering the cutoff at 18 years or more. It is currently drafting uniform working standards for online gaming players, countrywide.

Back to EY-AIGF Report for a mince, whose report states, “Considering the growth possibilities of the industry, break down the GST suggestions and hindrances that might affect business operations for the industry. It is additionally beneficial to assess worldwide accepted procedures for tax collection and give genuinely necessary clearness on angles identified with valuation and relevant GST rate.”

Online gaming is as of now scaling incomes of US $1 billion, set to grow to US $5 billion by 2024-25, with the general size of Real-Money Gaming (RMG) and Skilled Gaming areas now in the region of US $2.5 billion yearly. Both are huge employment generators and taxpayers.

Ernst and Young’s Bipin Sapra explains, “The absence of clear valuation standards and ambiguities in collecting GST has made regulatory vulnerability and hosed the industry to a degree. We (India) must embrace around the world predictable guidelines in the tax treatment of the industry.” In turn, AIGF Chief Executive Officer Roland Landers summarizes it: “To spike ventures and understand the genuine capability of Online Gaming in India, we suggest crystallization of valuation principles by taking on globally acknowledged accepted procedures and the levy of standard GST and VAT by treating it comparable to other industry segments.”

All said and done, we appear to have discovered a genie in a bottle. How we treat and sustain this suppression and the genie sneaking inside is up to us. On occasions fortunate or unfortunate, any industry segment that offers work to individuals, incomes to the Government, rising fare potential, and stirs up public pride is a welcome incident. This occurred with Information Technology thirty years back and India has since arisen as a superpower in that field. We might have a comparative chance here; we simply should have the option to see the truth about this little fish and transform it into a whale.

Credits: AwazTheVoice