NEW DELHI: Online real-money gaming (RMG) is set for a massive decline in India after the government changed GST norms and decided to tax the industry at 28% on the full face value of user collections, a report by gaming venture capital firm Lumikai said on Thursday. However, it forecasts the industry will grow at a CAGR of 20% between FY23 and FY28 to hit revenues of $7.5 billion.
The report, prepared in collaboration with Google, says while RMG category will stay muted, much of the growth will come from in-app purchases and ad revenues.”RMG revenue grew by 33% in FY23. However, given the recent taxation policies, we expect RMG growth to slow down on account of heavy tax liabilities and consolidation in the industry,” the report said, while pegging the size of overall gaming industry in FY23 at $3.3 billion against $2.6 billion in the previous fiscal.
The report said sustained increase in engagement has contributed to the growth of gaming industry. “Total number of gamers grew 12% in FY23. Average time spent per user per week has increased compared to last year, pointing towards a growing propensity to play games. With 15.4 billion downloads, India is among top countries in world for total mobile game downloads.”
The report said gamer population in India stood at 568 million in FY23 against 507 million in FY22 and 450 million in FY21. The average time spend on gaming per week stood at 10-12 hours in FY23 against 9-11 hours in FY22. At present, the maximum time of 4.7 hours per week is spent of real-money gaming, while casual gaming is around three hours.
The report, prepared in collaboration with Google, says while RMG category will stay muted, much of the growth will come from in-app purchases and ad revenues.”RMG revenue grew by 33% in FY23. However, given the recent taxation policies, we expect RMG growth to slow down on account of heavy tax liabilities and consolidation in the industry,” the report said, while pegging the size of overall gaming industry in FY23 at $3.3 billion against $2.6 billion in the previous fiscal.
The report said sustained increase in engagement has contributed to the growth of gaming industry. “Total number of gamers grew 12% in FY23. Average time spent per user per week has increased compared to last year, pointing towards a growing propensity to play games. With 15.4 billion downloads, India is among top countries in world for total mobile game downloads.”
The report said gamer population in India stood at 568 million in FY23 against 507 million in FY22 and 450 million in FY21. The average time spend on gaming per week stood at 10-12 hours in FY23 against 9-11 hours in FY22. At present, the maximum time of 4.7 hours per week is spent of real-money gaming, while casual gaming is around three hours.