E-gaming companies dial govt over 28% GST levy

BENGALURU: In an open letter titled “a death by a thousand cuts”, a group of over 100 gaming startups and some of the federations have written a letter to the government asking it to revisit its decision to levy a 28% GST on the gaming industry that would impact its survival.

“The proposal to charge GST on the entire deposit value, instead of the platform fee, will kill 99% of the companies in the sector in less than 6 months. This will undo all the work done by the central government to support the industry, and lead to a very large number of immediate job losses and business closures,” the letter said.

The signatories of the letter include gaming platforms including Gameskraft Technologies, Nazara Technologies and federations including All India Gaming Federation, E-Gaming Federation and Federation of India Fantasy Sports.

The letter said the number of online gamers grew to over 420 million from 360 million in 2020. India’s gaming industry attracted FDI of about $500 million between 2014 and 2020, and over $1. 5 billion between January last year to June this year.