India to be world leader in online gaming sector: PM Modi

In his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted India to be a leader in online gaming production

Modi calls on country's youth to promote Indian online gaming globally

Prime Minister Modi also highlighted that the government's decision to open up the space sector to private players has led to the emergence of a number of space technology startups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on the youth of the country to make India a leading nation in the gaming industry by introducing the country's online gaming to the world.

In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi said: “India has seen a boom in developing its gaming market. However, I want the youth of the country to lead the gaming industry, not only by playing but also by producing games. Indian games must reach the entire world.”

With the increasing internet penetration and improved access to smartphones, the number of gamers is on the rise in the country. The country is currently home to around 500 million gamers.

This has also spawned a number of homegrown gaming startups in recent years, including unicorns like Dream11, Games24X7, and Mobile Premier League (MPL). As a result, the annual revenue of the entire Indian gaming industry is expected to nearly double to $6 billion by 2028 from $3.1 billion in 2023, according to a report by Winzo

However, the growth of the country's video game sector has not been uniform. While smaller games often support the market, there is a shortage of AAA games. AAA games have higher budgets and are produced and distributed by large game publishers. These games are mainly used in gaming competitions.

However, industry veterans predict a shift in the production of such games. Last year, Nazara Technologies CEO and Co-MD Nitish Mittersain predicted that many Indian game studios were set to grow and become more visible in global gaming charts.

Last year, Nazara, a prominent name in the Indian gaming industry, in partnership four indian game studios to publish five casual and mid-tier games in India. Last week, the listed gaming giant also acquired Fusebox Games, UK-based IP game studio.

MPL's mobile game development arm Mayhem Studios and Karan Shroff's LightFury Games are among the other major players in the sector.

PM Modi highlights growth of space startups

In his speech, Prime Minister Modi also reiterated the government's focus on the nascent space technology ecosystem in India.

“Space technology sector is the future of India and we are focusing on it. The hurdles that were hindering India’s progress in the space sector have been removed through many reforms. This has led to the entry of a plethora of startups in the Indian space sector, making it more vibrant,” he said in his 11th Independence Day speech.

The Prime Minister also expressed pride in recent private rocket and satellite launches.

It is pertinent to note that space technology startup Agnikul Cosmos recently completed the first flight or Mission 01 of its Homemade rocket Agnibaan OUTLETwhile GalaxEye is looking to launch its satellite soon.

Modi's remarks come weeks after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a INR 1,000 crore venture capital (VC) fund She announced in her speech on the Union budget that she wanted to invest in the space sector. With this fund, the Centre seeks to increase the country's space economy fivefold over the next ten years.

Apart from launching the fund, the government has recently taken several steps in favour of the Indian space industry. These include setting up the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which is the nodal agency to support startups, and allowing up to 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) through automatic route for certain sub-segments of the space sector.