The central government’s recent decision to officially recognize competitive video gaming has been welcomed by the electronic sports or esports industry, which now anticipates additional investments in the emerging sector.

On December 27, the Indian government recognized esports as a part of a “multisport” event and integrated them with traditional sports. The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs will now have responsibility for esports.

Esports refers to organized and competitive video game competitions. Esports had been promoted as a competitive sport in which athletes use their mental and physical abilities.

Rajan Navani, founder and CEO of JetSynthesys, stated, “The industry has a huge potential to unlock economic growth and impact the demographic dividend positively.” He cited the growing popularity of esports. The number of esports players in India increased from 300,000 in 2020 to 600,000 in 2021, and revenue increased by 29%, reaching 9.7 billion in 2021 from 7.5 billion in 2020.

India is one of the esports markets with the fastest growth rates in the world. By 2025, esports will result in the creation of more than 11,000 direct and indirect jobs and a total economic impact of more than 100 billion through investments, direct industry revenues, in-app purchases, and other revenues.

The esports industry is looking forward to the Union Budget with great optimism because the government’s decision comes just a month before it.

“A national governing body for esports should be established by the government. “The establishment of a national governing body will help regulate all of them because the efforts are currently distributed across multiple stakeholders,” stated Anurag Khurana, CEO and founder of Penta Esports.

On the other hand, Mr Sharma anticipates that the government will announce an ‘Esports Development Fund’ similar to those found in Malaysia and South Korea.

Credit: NDTV Profit