India’s First Centre Of Excellence For Online Gaming To Be Set Up In Shillong

The Centre on Friday (January 13) said that the country’s first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for online gaming would be set up in Meghalaya’s Shillong by March this year. 

The announcement was made by Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Rajeev Chandrasekhar during a public event in the city. 

The project will be executed by MeitY’s nodal agency Digital India Startup Hub through the Software Technology Parks of India. The CoE is expected to ‘catalyse startups and entrepreneurs from the entire NorthEast region’ to build the next generation of online gaming ecosystem.

“It is the vision of PM Narendra Modi that the next wave of startups and entrepreneurs must come from Shillong, Kohima and other parts of NorthEast India,” said Chandrasekhar.

Among other things, the minister also announced that a 10-acre state-of-the-art facility under the National Institute of Electronics and IT (NIELIT) would soon be established in Shillong to impart training on digital skills to the local youths.

This, he said, would enable the youths in the NorthEast region to ‘grab opportunities of jobs and entrepreneurship’ in the country’s burgeoning digital economy. The minister also reiterated that the Centre would train 50,000 youths in the state in emerging fields as part of the fourth iteration of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). 

It is pertinent to note that Chandrasekhar unveiled the PMKVY 4.0 in Shillong on January 12. Under the scheme, the central government will offer courses in multiple emerging technology fields including Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, among others. 

Besides, the government is also planning to train an additional 60,000 youths in Tripura and 35,000 in Nagaland under PMKVY 4.0 across a broad spectrum of courses. 

Online Gaming Regulations

The announcement comes close on the heels of the Centre publishing draft amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 concerning the online gaming industry. The draft guidelines propose a self-regulatory mechanism for online gaming companies while specifying new responsibilities for online gaming intermediaries.

The draft amendments also put more impetus on conformity to Indian laws, including laws related to gambling or betting.

Amid lobbying efforts for the proposed self-regulatory body (SRO), Chandrasekhar earlier said that the government would not allow the industry to take complete charge of the proposed SRO and would ensure that accountability and transparency is maintained at the SRO. 

Amidst all this, the move to set up the CoE in Shillong is expected to give a major boost to the industry. The project will likely create a high-quality talent pool for the online gaming industry and aid in the creation of new startups working in the field. 

India’s online gaming market is booming. While there have been regulatory headwinds, India has minted a host of unicorns in the online gaming space, including Dream11, MPL, and Games24X7. Meanwhile, the number of online gamers in the country increased to 507 Mn by March 2022 from 450 Mn in March 2021 .