Lok Sabha Question No. 69 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-07
Subject: Gaming Industry
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 69.

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 07 TH  DECEMBER, 2022.

## GAMING INDUSTRY

## 69. SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- (a) the steps taken by the Ministry to protect the Indian gaming industry under the Start-Up India initiative;
- (b) the steps taken by the Ministry to check the influence and dominance of foreign entities in the sector; and
- (c) the details of policy papers issued by the Ministry on the said industry, if any?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री ( श्री सोम प्रकाश ) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI SOM PARKASH)

- (a): The Government with an intent to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country launched Startup India initiative on 16th January 2016.

In order to meet the objectives of the initiative, the Government unveiled an Action Plan for Startup India that laid the foundation of Government support, schemes and                incentives envisaged to create a vibrant startup ecosystem in  the  country.  The  Action  Plan  comprises  of  19  action  items  spanning across areas such as 'Simplification and handholding', 'Funding support and incentives' and 'Industry- academia partnership and incubation'.

Sustained Government efforts in this direction have resulted in increasing the  number of recognized Startups from 452 in 2016 to 84,012 in 2022 (as on  30th  November  2022).  This  includes  startups  in  gaming  and  related sectors, which have                    grown from about 5 in 2016 to over 1,330 startups in 2022 (as on 30 th  November 2022).

In pursuance  of  the  announcement  made  in  the  Union  Budget    202223,  an  Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force has been constituted on 8th April 2022to promote the AVGC sector. Its mandate includes 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.

Further, with the vision of promoting Make-in-India, Design-in-India,  Makefor- India, and Make-for-the World, the Government also organized Digital India Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge to identify the best Indian  Apps  that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become  world class Apps in their respective categories. This Innovation Challenge with various cash awards and incentives of featuring Apps  on  Leader  Boards  sought  to  create  an  ecosystem  where  Indian entrepreneurs  and  Startups  are  incentivised  to  ideate,  incubate,  build, nurture and sustain Tech solutions that can serve not only citizens within India but also the world. The challenge was organised in 8 broad categories and out of this, one category was 'Games'.

Specifically for online gaming sector with an objective to support startups, the Government through Software Technology Park of India (STPI) has set up IMAGE, a Centre of Excellence focused on Gaming, VFX, Computer Vision  &  AI,  at  Hyderabad  in  collaboration  with  industry,  academia,  and Government  of Telangana. The CoE supports product development and innovative solutions in the  fields of "Gaming, VFX, and Computer Vision & AI" and provides access to the required infrastructure and labs to startups for development and validation of solution, from design to prototyping.

- (b): Online gaming platforms are intermediaries, and they have to follow the due diligence as prescribed in the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 and the Rules there under. Further, State Governments under List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution have enacted their laws to deal with  betting  and  gambling  within  their  jurisdictions  and  also  for  online gaming.
- (c): The NITI Aayog has published a discussion paper on 'Guiding principles for the            uniform national-level regulation of online fantasy sports platforms in India'.

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