Centre intensifies drive on betting ads for Asia, World Cup

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Mint on the sidelines of The Indian Digital Gaming Society (IDGS) gaming conclave. In June last year, the ministry had completely banned these platforms from using any form of advertising to promote these offshore companies. In March, it emphasized that while betting company advertisements have significantly reduced, it is now considering further action to eliminate outdoor media displays, such as hoardings, posters, banners, and auto rickshaw branding.

The ministry is also looking to extend its support to the Indian gaming sector to expand on international collaborations which would help them participate, collaborate, co-produce events or in order for India to become a global hub of the gaming industry, said Sahay. He said India is now a big visible global player that is being talked about everywhere. One of the points it is now looking to focus on, which was also in its draft policy, is bringing gaming into education, skilling and innovation for greater development of the sector.

“We think it is very important for us to have a dedicated fund for the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector which can help in the growth of infrastructure, to develop infrastructure labs and R&D support," he added. At this point, gaming is one of the fastest growing sectors but India has not yet created a special division for it like for instance, the Films Division of India which was established as far back as in 1948. “We don’t want to look at the values of having a separate divisions in the industry.

That is not the idea. We won’t want to try and create different divisions as it becomes very bureaucratic," he said. India’s gaming industry currently is under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.