Budget 2022: AVGC task force, 5G spectrum auctions & sports allocation motivate Indian esports industry

In the Union Budget 2022-2023, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the sector comprising Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) offers immense potential to employ youth.

“An AVGC promotion task force, with all stakeholders, will be set up to recommend ways to realise this and build domestic capacity for serving out markets and the global demand,” she said.

Read more: Budget 2022 reaction: Infrastructure strong but F&B & hospitality disappointed

In his ‘Atmanirbhar Arthvyawastha’ address to BJP workers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the budget has paid special attention to sports.

“India has paid tremendous attention to the sports segment in this budget and increased the allocation as well. We must not forget that a maximum of our sportspersons belongs to the family of farmers. We have also increased the budget for Khelo India Abhiyaan. The sports budget has witnessed a jump of more than three times over the last seven years, and this will also benefit our youth,” he said.

He also emphasised the Budget’s focus on AVGC.

“Today, the Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is witnessing rapid growth in India. India is among the top 5 markets in the world when it comes to mobile gaming. As per the estimate, this sector is expected to reach 3 lakh crore in the next 2 years. Now the point is, we cannot stop our child from playing games in the family. But, will they just be playing games developed outside India or India will do something on its own?” he asked.

We cannot stop our child from playing games in the family. But will they just be playing games developed outside India or India will do something on its own?

“Hence, in order to give a chance to our country’s talent to innovate – there is tremendous potential for ‘Create in India and Brand in India.’ The budget has also talked about creating a task force for making India the global games developer and gaming services hub in the world,” he added.

Another announcement of note was that spectrum auctions for 5G will happen soon for the rollout of 5G services in 2022-23.

These two announcements will support the esports and gaming industry in a huge way, likely pushing India further up the esports ladder on the international arena.

The Tech Panda gathered opinions from relevant players in esports to find out their perception regarding the announcements.

Creation of AVGC Promotion Task Force

Vishwalok Nath, Director, World Esports Cup welcomed the creation of the task force.

“We hope that this task force can help promote the creation of a robust infrastructure for game development with gradual benefits to the esports community.

We hope that this task force can help promote the creation of a robust infrastructure for game development with gradual benefits to the esports community

“There is a huge scope of employment for the youth in the gaming industry, Esports/Video Games is a versatile industry and there is a huge scope for professional gamers as well as other jobs like casters, commentators, and other support staff appointed by the esports tournaments like producers, editors, analysts, product managers, game testers, referees, production crew members, event managers, social media managers, etc.” he added.

Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President, Asian Esports Federation (AESF), the neglected sector is finally getting some government attention.

“It is encouraging to finally see the seriousness from our Government towards this sector which has been long neglected. This will definitely help in setting up the policies which would encourage and build our capacities and capabilities to export to the rest of the world, leading to more domestic video game development studios and more investments in the AVGC sector,” he says.

This will definitely help in setting up the policies which would encourage and build our capacities and capabilities to export to the rest of the world, leading to more domestic video game development studios and more investments in the AVGC sector

“The task force should consist largely of people who have been part of the “Video Game” industry and are playing an active role in shaping up the Indian video game industry,” he added.

Sagar Nair, Co-founder & CEO, Qlan, says this kind of continued acceptance will lead to progress of the Indian gaming and esports industry.

“First was esports’ entry in the Asian Games as an official event followed by a government dedicated task force to work with the AVGC sector. I have no doubt that these initiatives as part of the national budget policy highlight the true potential of the Indian gaming and esports segment not only in India but also on the global circuit,” he said.

The statement clearly indicates the backing of homegrown game developers, tournament organizers, and esports companies and recommendations from the appointed task force will help build domestic capacity for serving out markets and the global demand as well

“The statement clearly indicates the backing of homegrown game developers, tournament organizers, and esports companies and recommendations from the appointed task force will help build domestic capacity for serving out markets and the global demand as well,” he added.

Spectrum Auctions for 5G 

Players in the esports sectors are also looking forward to the 5G spectrum auction this year.

“5G can further promote the latest innovations and mass adoption of technologies like cloud gaming in the country,” Nath said.

5G can further promote the latest innovations and mass adoption of technologies like cloud gaming in the country

“Spectrum auctions for 5G is a welcome move for the gaming industry as well, 5G can disrupt the industry by enhancing the live streaming of games and cloud gaming as well,” said Suji.

Sports Allocation

The Budget also saw an increase by more than INR 300 crore in sports allocations from last year. The sports budget has increased to INR 3062.60 crore, another cause for encouragement in the sector.

“This will be a progressive step in aiding India’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year. On the brighter side, the fund allocated for awards to sportspersons has seen a substantial hike from INR245 crore to INR357 crore,” said Suji.

This step will bolster the training and preparation of our esports athletes and motivate them to bring laurels for our country in the upcoming Asian Games 2022

“Esports has been included in the upcoming Asian Games 2022 with eight medal titles, it’s high time for our government to recognize esports (as a sport) and ESFI. This step will bolster the training and preparation of our esports athletes and motivate them to bring laurels for our country in the upcoming Asian Games 2022,” he added.

“As our honourable Prime Minister also emphasises on “Create in India and Brand in India” in the video gaming sector, this is an opportune time for Indian game developers to build esports titles based on Indian culture, essence and ethos which can compete with the international esports titles, if done correctly, we would have Indian esports titles played across the global esports championships including Asian and Olympic Games,” he said.