India government releases draft amendment for online gaming

The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), on Monday, released a draft amendment to the IT intermediary rules 2021 pertaining to Online Gaming for public consultations.

This development comes just days after the government officially recognised esports in the country as a part of multi-sporting events via a gazette notification.

The draft amendment is said to have been recommended to ensure that online games in the country comply with the standards set by the Indian law. This is hailed as the first major step taken by the Indian government towards regulating the online gaming industry in the country.

"The rules are simple - we would like the online gaming ecosystem to expand and grow and be an important catalyst to India's One trillion dollar Digital economy goal by 2025-26. We also envision a bigger role for startups in the online gaming industry," the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar told media.

While only Real Money Games (RMGs) are included in the amended draft proposals, other amendments will allow the ministry to bring under its ambit games which are violent, addictive in nature or includes sexual content.

The draft amendment suggests no change in the gaming age of 18 years and instead focuses on making the sector safe for users.

The Ministry is expected to hold another set of public consultations and finalise the amendments soon.