IAMAI Says It Is Best Suited To Form Self-Regulatory Organisation For Online Gaming

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Friday said that it is most suited to form the proposed self-regulatory organisation (SRO) for online gaming.

Earlier this week, the central government appointed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) as the nodal ministry to oversee the online gaming industry. As per reports, the ministry is also considering making it mandatory for the online gaming industry to have an SRO.

“Given our hands-on experience in running a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting mandated and registered SRO for online curated content companies and another industry driven SRO with the support of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for the edutech sector we are best suited to set up and manage the online gaming SRO,” Subho Ray, president of IAMAI, said in a statement.

“Also, given our wide range of membership in the online games of skill segment, we would be able to pull various types of skill based online gaming firms into the SRO,” he added.

Lauding the government’s move to make MeitY the nodal ministry, the industry body said that it is a strong signal from the government that it wants to encourage the segment’s growth in a regulated and orderly fashion while at the same time creating proper institutional mechanisms for redressal of consumer grievances

Earlier, the online gaming industry also welcomed the government’s move to appoint MeitY as the nodal agency. The industry has been calling for uniform centralised regulations for a long time now.

Currently, the laws for online gaming vary in each state. The regulatory instability has been plaguing the industry for the last two years which have seen a number of states such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala issuing various notifications banning online gaming.

Recently, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Centre has decided to come up with a new law for online gaming. In a meeting with the minister, IT ministers of several states raised concerns over the effects of online gaming on the youth in the country.

Indian gaming startups saw a massive decline in funding in 2022 due to the regulatory uncertainty and macroeconomic headwinds. Indian gaming startups raised just $349 Mn during the year, a decline of 80% from $1.74 Bn in 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of gamers in the country rose 12% to 507 Mn by March 2022 (24% were paying users) from 450 Mn in March 2021, according to a report by gaming and interactive media-focused VC fund Lumikai. According to a KPMG report, the sector is projected to reach a size of $3.9 Bn by 2025 in the country.