Bengaluru : Karnataka Minister for IT & BT, Priyank Kharge, while flaying the Centre’s “Unrealistic demands”, sought legitimacy for the gaming industry in the country, saying it could result in a windfall in investments. Kharge comment came after state government passed a bill hiking goods and services tax (GST) on the gaming industry to 28% at the winter session in Belgavi, a move which merely endorsed a levy by the Centre.
Priyank Kharge, Qoting studies on the Indian gaming industry, in a series of comments on X, SAID BETWEEN 2020-2023 (during pandemic), the online gaming sector in India registered a 28% growth. He said the country has a staggering 42.5 crore gamers. He said, “with a market size of 16,428 crore in 2023, Industry estimates suggest it will reach 33,243 crore in a couple of years . The sector directly and indirectly employs around one lakh individuals, with the prospect of expanding to 2,50,000 job opportunities by 2025”, he added.
Lambast the Centre priyank said, “Gaming companies want to be regulated, but the central government is being unrealistic and unreasonable with their demands, which is not only killing employment in the sector, but is also driving away gamers to Chinese and European gaming sires where they are being duped.
He said, country has as many as 1,400 online gaming start-ups and reports suggest 430 crore downloads of gaming apps were recorded in 2023 alone. “In gaming purchases and deposits contributed Rs 8,370 crore through UPI transactions and the online real money gaming segment enterprise has a valuation of Rs 1,60,000 crore, The estimated corporate tax and TDS contribution to the exchequer by the real money gaming sector between FY24-28 will be Rs 6,500 –6800 cr, with GST contribution to the exchequer between FY24-28 could be around Rs 76,000 cr.” He added.
