| Indiagames, a leading online and mobile games company — along with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and other industry players — is planning to approach the central government to get an industry status for the gaming segment (online and for handhelds) in India.
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| Since gaming does not fall under the preview of any one single ministry, the committee will approach the IT, Telecom and sports ministry with the proposal. “Gaming transcends the boundaries of all these ministries and there is no single ministry which looks into gaming. So we are trying to figure out the best way to approach the government,” said Suparna Pandhi, head-creative industries division, CII.
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| Some of the demands includes tax benefits for the gamers, college admission preferences among others. “We are in the process of identifying the issues. We have set up a committee which is currently looking into the matter. The committee needs to identify the demands and CII will present these demands to the government,” said Pandhi. However, this is not the first time that such a demand has been initiated.
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| Vishal Gondal, founder and director, Indiagames believes that the penetration of broadband is directly proportional to the popularity of games among the users. CII and Indiagames wants that gaming should be considered as a sport and players involved should be treated as sportsmen.
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| Six months back, Nasscom, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), CII and a few industry players had approached the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to give a thrust to the animation and gaming industry. Kiran Karnik, president Nasscom said, “We feel that there is a huge opportunity for gaming and animation in the market today. Especially as the PC penetration is increasing and the mobile gaming segment is growing there is a huge potential for the same.”
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| NASSCOM had also proposed that gaming and animation should be part of the formal educational structure and establish dedicated institutes for the animation and the gaming industry. “As of now we have good schools but then the industry is too fragmented. Though we had not asked for specific incentives but any fiscal incentive that can boost the industry will be appreciated,” said Karnik.
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| Industry players are in full support of the initiative. “Its a good step. With the VAS market growing rapidly, any movement to enhances gaming as a industry and helps to increase revenue generation for the operators as well and for the eco-system along with a common regulations platform is a welcome sign,” said Rajiv Hiranandani, country head, Mobile2win.
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CII’s digital media wing under which gaming falls has corporates like Microsoft, Sony, Google on board have backed the initiative. “We are trying to promote the gaming culture in India and we will support the initiative taken by CII in this direction,” said a spokesperson from Samsung.
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| ARE YOU GAME?
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The online gaming industry size is Rs 21 crore as of January 2007
The industry is currently dominated by revenue accruing through organised café (Rs 12.17 crore) and from subscription-based revenues (Rs. 6.6 crore)
Almost 20 per cent of this revenue (Rs 4 crore) currently accrues directly to international players not based in India
Major players in the industry are Indiagames, Zapak, Games2win, Kreeda Games
While the market is still nascent, the user base in India is on a fast growth curve having grown 100 per cent in 2006 over 2004
Source: IAMAI |
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