Indian gaming industry to grow in double digits: MoS IT

The Indian gaming industry, pegged at around USD 890 million, is projected to grow in double digits, Minister of State for Electronics and IT P P Chaudhary said.

"Currently valued at USD 890 million, the Indian gaming industry is projected to grow at annual growth rate in double digits. The industry has over 250 game developers today.

"I have been informed that India registered the fifth highest number of game downloads in the world, as of 2016," Chaudhary said at CII's 'International Conference on Indian Gaming Industry'.

He said that expanding smartphone user base, rising internet penetration, increasing disposable income coupled with growing trend of gaming among youngsters is driving the gaming industry in India.

Chaudhary also released a report on gaming industry which said that in 2016, India accounted for 0.55 percent of the global gaming industry.

However, this is anticipated to grow significantly over the next 5 years on account of macroeconomic factors such as improving demographics, rising disposable income and changing gaming preferences of people.

It said that time required to develop a typical game is around 24 months and production budget is in the range of USD 5 - 12 million, which is driving gaming publishers and studios to outsource development in order to reduce cost and time.

It said that India is becoming a popular outsourcing destination for gaming companies on the back of high availability of skilled game developers and rapid upsurge in the country's gaming market.

"India has an immense IT talent with over 1.25 billion citizens comprising of over 65 percent youth. This talented pool of IT youth can play a significant role in developing video games which assimilate the young Indian boys and girls with Indian family values, traditions and unity in diversity," Chaudhary said.