Nazara: Major Tailwinds for the Gaming Industry – Union Budget 2022

The below information will be attributed to Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies Ltd.

Some of the salient points for the development of the gaming industry mentioned in the Union Budget 2022:

I.    AVGC Taskforce to be set up to carve the way ahead for the Gaming Industry
Welcome move by the government to promote AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) by setting up task force to seek recommendation to create the way forward. As we know, India presently commands around 10% of the global AVGC market and has the potential to reach 20-25% by 2027. This taskforce will facilitate employment for the youth, build domestic capacity to serve the Indian markets and also meet global demand.

II.    5G auctions to happen in 2022 leading to innovations in the Gaming sector
A very encouraging timeline for the gaming sector set by Hon’ble FM on the 5G spectrum auctions in 2022 to enable the launch of services within FY 22-23. Advent of 5G in India will drive the momentum in the gaming industry even further and enhance gaming experiences due to factors like higher data speeds, lower latency, and technologies like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.

III.    Facilitating partnership with states in SEZs to ensure greater alignment with key industries – Gaming focused SEZs to encourage infrastructure and talent pool development
Replacing the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act with new legislation that would enable states to become partners in becoming development hubs is a crucial and well-timed move. For the gaming industry, such partnership with states on SEZs would help strengthen the supply base of animation and production studios and encourage development of the existing animation and gaming capacity. It will also lend focus on evolving a concept of infrastructure sharing as well as making available a talent pool in India, for our country to grow as hub for the global gaming ecosystem.

IV.    Cryptocurrency incorporation in the tax net
By bringing crypto and NFTs under the tax net by proposing to tax virtual assets at 30%, the government has indirectly accorded recognition to these digital assets which is a positive step. We are hopeful that provided with and implementation of the necessary regulatory measures cryptocurrency may be soon legalized in India.

V.    Launching Digital Rupee – Spur in Micro-transactions
The introduction of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) using blockchain technology will spur micro-transactions and could be the solution for the low in-app purchases that the Indian gaming market currently witnesses.

The announcements on virtual assets and CBDC signal the progressive mindset of the government and is a huge confidence booster for welcoming innovations in the disruptive space of the metaverse and Web3.0.