Youth are the largest end user of the gaming industry and can make positive contribution in the society, said by Mr. P.P. Chaudhary, Hon’ble Minister of State for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India during his Inaugural Address of International Conference on “Indian Gaming Industry” organized jointly by the CII and Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India on 02 February 2017 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Mr. Chaudhary also pointed out that Indian scientists possess immense enthusiasm to develop solutions for Indian needs and to partner with the industry to produce cost effective solutions. He also emphasized that efforts must also be made to produce games in local languages that will cater to specific local audiences, with special focus on states like North East.

India has grown exponentially in software and has the potential to replicate this in the gaming industry. India needs advanced hardware platforms, in which software developed by Indian IT experts can be used to kick-start the gaming revolution, said by Dr. Debashis Dutta, Scientist-G & Group Coordinator, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India in his address.

Dr. Dutta further added that our demographic advantages can play a major role in escalation of the gaming industry and MeitY is engaged in various projects to provide support in this direction.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Hideki Okamura, Chairman, Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) congratulated CII for hosting first ever gaming show in South Asia at such a large scale. He mentioned that India is the potential market for Japanese gaming industry to promote state of the art gaming technology under the Hon’ble Prime Minster Mr. Narendra Modi’s flagship initiative- Make in India.

Mr Rajan Navani, Chairman, CII Steering Committee on India Gaming Show pointed out that with more than 70 million gamers spread across the mobile, console and PC platforms, the Indian gaming market has caught the attention of several international gaming peripheral manufacturers and service providers. India also has a large skill pool to offer in the fields of IT, Game Testing, Arts and Designing. He further stated that owing to the existence of significant cost competitiveness, game developers are shifting their focus to India for outsourcing their key working components. This presents a significant opportunity for the Indian gaming industry to forge partnerships with leading global gaming companies.

A detailed analysis of Indian Gaming Industry in a form of report entitled “Emerging Trends in India Gaming Industry” prepared by CII along with the partnership of TechSci Research has also been released during the opening session of the conference.

CII organized the first ever gaming show in India in association with Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA), Japan and supported by around 90 leading gaming companies from around 12 countries.

The conference was graced by eminent speakers from Gaming Industry both from India and abroad. Also, both the conference and gaming show received an overwhelming response, especially from youth and around 500 delegates visited the gaming pavilion during the opening hours of the event.

New Delhi

2 February 2017