Shark Tank India judge and Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal on Wednesday joined a long list of entrepreneurs who have been criticising the Centre for its decision to impose a 28 percent tax on funds that online gaming companies collect from their customers.
"Latest lessons -- stop gaming, start building rockets, move money from crypto to tomatoes," he tweeted pointing out that the government's move is a blow to the fantasy gaming industry.
Latest lessons - stop gaming, start building rockets, move money from crypto to tomatoes— Anupam Mittal (@AnupamMittal) July 12, 2023
Although Anupam Mittal has not revealed any investment in the industry, he has joined ranks with a fellow judge at Shark Tank India, Ashneer Grover, who has been hitting out at the government ever since the announcement.
Grover owns Crickpe, a fantasy game that allows users to create virtual teams of the best in-form real players and earn points depending upon their actual performance. He stated imposing taxes on online gaming resulted in "$10 billion down the drain in this monsoon".
"You (the government) got billions in from foreign investors as FDI. Celebrated FDI inflow! Now the same investors will apply regulatory risk discount to India and funds will dry up. Not only for online games -- but across sectors. Across startups," he tweeted on Wednesday.
"Also why judgement on online gaming now? Everyone from Virat Kohli to MS Dhoni to Sourav Ganguly has endorsed online gaming. Why was Indian public/govt/BCCI not outraged by all cricketers endorsing? Why was BCCI allowed to take Dream11 as title the sponsor? Sab Doglapan hai."
The former BharatPe founder also said that it's time for startup founders to enter politics and be represented, "or this is going to be spate industry after industry".
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