Top investors ask PM Modi to review online gaming tax
NEW DELHI : A group of 30 Indian and foreign investors, including marquee names such as Indian venture capital firms Kalaari Capital, Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India and South-East Asia) and Lumikai, and US firms Tiger Global Management and Tribe Capital, on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a meeting to elucidate the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s recommendation to tax the online gaming sector at 28% of the gross revenue earned by companies in this sector. The letter claimed that the new recommended tax for the sector could lead to an increase of up to 1,100%, based on the present interpretation of the GST Council’s recommendation to tax real-money online gaming companies at 28% of the “full face value" of their earnings.
“Skill-based real-money gaming is India’s largest gaming sub-sector, contributing to a majority of the $2.9 billion online gaming industry by revenue in 2022. As a result, it has attracted $2.5 billion in global funding across approximately 400 RMG startups.
Some of these startups are unicorns…and have received significant capital from global marquee investors. The current GST proposal will set up the most onerous tax regime for the gaming sector globally, which will lead to a potential write-off of the $2.5 billion capital invested in this sector," the letter said.
Read more on livemint.com
