According to Sean Hyunil Sohn, the CEO of KRAFTON’s India business, the developer of PUBG and BGMI, plans to establish a research and development facility in India by the end of the year in order to create games that are reflective of Indian culture. The chief executive officer of KRAFTON India, Sohn, stated that while the specifics of the plant have not been decided upon yet, Bangalore and Pune are among the most attractive sites.
“Whether we import them from abroad or develop them in-house, we will keep releasing games in the Indian market”.
While speaking on the fringes of IDGS Gaming Conclave, he promised to “do our best” to establish a high-quality development team in India and create games inspired by Indian culture.
India Being a Major Market for the Company
In an earlier interview with a media agency, Sohn had said that India had one of the company’s top three user bases among its territories.
Video games and other forms of digital entertainment are very popular in India.
“I believe there is a shortage of supply of high-quality talent into the ecosystem, which has numerous causes, yet we have witnessed a very quick growth rate on an annual basis. People may not fully grasp gaming as a legitimate and serious job after learning just a brief overview of the industry’s history”.
On top of that, he complained that the country’s basic information technology infrastructure for education was underfunded, despite its large and youthful population.
How Gaming Industry Could Be the Game Changer?
Promoting and changing public opinion about the gaming business is crucial because it has the potential to have a significant beneficial effect on the sector. The government ought to provide financial aid for schools.
“Having spoken with several of the younger here, I get the impression that both the home and school environments suffer from a lack of necessary infrastructure. Obviously, I could be completely wrong about the state of education in India”.
Sohn also clarified that the lack of appropriate hardware prevented them from pursuing their interest in learning to code and create video games.
Despite the ease of access to knowledge and education in the modern day, he emphasised that the methods and reasoning behind them are equally important.
KRAFTON intends to invest an extra $150 million in Indian businesses over the next two to three years, adding to the $160 million it has already invested in Indian entrepreneurs since 2021.
The KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator program was established earlier this year by the company to assist talented Indian game creators. The initiative offers financing, mentorship, and other necessary tools to these developers.
Game Designing entails the creation of the game’s structure, setting and layout. Therefore, A game designer must create systems that are simple to maintain, comfortable to use and expandable, as well as bring new game design concepts to the table frequently. In short, Gaming has appeared in several formats and platforms, including PC, Console, Mobile, Virtual, and Augmented Reality, as a result of the globalizing and ever-evolving globe. Such changes in the gaming industry necessitate a game designer with a diverse set of creative and technical talents to successfully envision, plan, test, develop and deliver an idea.
Over the last ten years, the gaming industry has grown exponentially as of 2020 it was valued at around 90 billion INR. With the Indian market expected to reach 143 billion INR by 2022, this growth has prompted several international animation companies to outsource work to India.
Top Games By Current Players
The best part of becoming a game designer is that you don’t need any diploma or degree, it depends on the skills and knowledge a game designer has. A candidate should have good knowledge of the gaming industrytoo.
But, If you are planning to learn more about this field, then here are some courses that you can obtain after completing related courses.
Entering the Designing Industry is unique and can be both lucrative and rewarding. As compared to earlier, the demand for a game designer has increased immensely. Nowadays, 8 out of 10 people play video games because it is no more seen as a hobby or recreation or a mode of entertainment. And honestly speaking, we know people in our circles who are addicted to gaming. A certificate/diploma program is sufficient enough to give you enough exposure to the fundamentals & give a kickstart to your game designing career. With an associate degree, you can get a job in the gaming field which will be a milestone toward your dream position. Here are some of the basic eligibility criteria required to become a game designer:
Once you complete your 12th grade, you can apply for a bachelor’s degree in game design.
It does not have a specified entry-level requirement. A candidate can hold only a 12th pass certificate and also a master’s in-game designing too, depending on the candidate’s talent and experience.
Candidates with a bachelor’s degree in engineering have a little edge over others. As they have a better understanding of computer applications and their technical elements.
Various colleges offer a variety of game design programs. To improve their talents in the field of game design, candidates can enrol themselves in game design courses.
A bachelor’s degree or diploma in game design, or a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering, is required for game designers.
Pros of Becoming a Game Designer
Firstly, there isn’t a clear and fast rule on what qualifications are required. If you possess the necessary qualities, you can pursue a career as a game designer. Any appropriate degree would only be the icing on the cake.
Secondly, Join a team of people who are determined, creative, and enthusiastic about their job. Not only does it improve the working atmosphere, but it also introduces a variety of new skills.
Thirdly, The business is growing at a breakneck speed. It provides hopefuls with a wealth of opportunities and quality work.
Fourthly, It is mentally stimulating because each project is different.
Lastly, A game designer creates a universe full of fantasy and inventiveness. It rekindles your desire to work.
Cons of Becoming a Game Designer
Game designers have to cope with a lot of pressure. They must complete their project to the letter of the deadline, as the project’s release is totally in the hands of the firm.
Long hours in front of a computer are required of game designers. It’s taxing on the back and the eyes.
Working long hours to reach a deadline might cause stress and hurt their personal lives.
The business is under harsh competition as the demands for game designers rise.
Certificate & Diploma courses
Here are some of the Certificate or Diploma courses you can choose from to become a game designer:
Game Art & Design- Certificate
Gaming – Certificate
Diploma in Game Programming
Diploma in Gaming Production
Diploma in Game Designing
Diploma in Game Development
Advance Diploma in 3D game content creation
Bachelor’s and Master’s courses
If you think that the Certificate/ Diploma program didn’t give you enough exposure, then you can surely go for a bachelor’s degree and even after that you want to study more then you should go for a master’s. This means you get more years of exposure, learning, and experience in comparison to the previous course. This will surely help you grow in this field and get more knowledge about it. During your studies, you can also go for an internship for more practical knowledge and it will help you to grow your resume as well.
Here are the courses you can opt-in for doing your bachelor’s or master’s:
B.Sc in Graphics, Animation, and Gaming
B.Sc in Gaming and Animations
Bachelor’s in Media Animation and Design
Bachelor of IT/Art user experience design
M.Sc in Gaming
M.Sc in Multimedia and Animations
Integrated M.sc in Multimedia and Animation with Game Art and Design
Courses Outside the College Curriculum
Game Designing courses on Udemy
There are plenty of courses that offer to help you along with training & skill development outside of your college curriculum. These courses can supplement your degree & can also help you land better jobs. Some courses have a lot to offer from prop creation to complete level designing. There are sites like Udemy& The Game Institute, that offer these additional courses.
Udemy offers you several hours of top-notch content. You can also see the difficulty level for different courses, from beginner to expert. Moreover, Looking at the abundance of information provided by Udemy, it is quite inexpensive as well. Moreover, The Game Institute, on the other hand, offers you a 30-day no-risk money-back guarantee. They have a reasonably priced fee for 6 months/ year depending on your choice of payment period. This site is solely dedicated to games & is worth a try!
Skills required for a Game Designer
A game designer must have good drawing abilities. Working knowledge of computer languages and software programs such as 3D Max and Maya are also very important. Game creation necessitates the presentation of concepts with clarity, both verbally and on paper, which necessitates the use of fundamental graphic design and sketching skills.
Game designers frequently work in groups, which necessitates strong interpersonal skills. To improve your professional skills, you should stay current on the latest software and technology. A candidate’s success is determined by his or her skill set, which should be a mix of talent, technology and innovation.
Similar Jobs
A Game Designer’s job entails visualizing, planning, and designing computer and video games. The game designer collaborates with a group of specialists who assist with budgeting, project timetables, and work schedules. Levels, puzzles, characters, narratives, animation, and art are all created by game designers. They also write codes using computer programming languages.
Although, there are a lot of related jobs in the same field as game designing. Some are listed below with their roles:
Game Animator
They’re the multimedia kings and queens. A Game Animator’s job is to produce interactive animated pictures by combining technology with art and imagination.
Game Programmer
A game programmer is a computer scientist who employs codes to construct programs that can be read by cellphones, computers, or video game systems. They choose the coding language that is most appropriate for the gaming platform.
Game Designer
A game designer’s job entails creating stages, characters, riddles, animation, and art. You will be expected to provide ideas, construct interactive narration, produce prototypes, and develop the game’s mechanism.
Creative Game Director
A creative game director, who is often the inventor of the game concept, must guarantee that the video gaming production is flawless in every way. They are in charge of the project’s overarching vision.
Game Artist
A game artist is in charge of all parts of game development that necessitate the use of visual art. For the game’s visual aspects, they develop 2D or 3D art.
Game Marketer/PR
In this process, a game marketer/publicist plays a crucial role. They are in charge of communicating the developer’s message and ensuring that it is well received by the audience or public.
Game System Designer
To create game functionalities, a game system designer collaborates with producers, programmers, and other areas within the game design.
We live in an age where anyone can create a video game. Technology and the tools we need to do so have made it easier than ever, and thousands of games are released every year, many of them quite successful. But, how does one become a game designer? What’s required to get started? In this guide, we will discuss the basics of becoming a game designer and give you a brief overview of what you need to know.
FAQs
Is game design a good career in the future?
There was a time when people used to refer to gaming as entertainment, but a lot of things have changed over the past years and the demand will see tremendous growth soon. Choosing a game designer as a career is an excellent choice, especially for those who love gaming and the gaming industry. Moreover, people have started seeing it as a professional career.
How much does a game designer earn?
There is no fixed amount, it depends on the company and the level of experience a candidate has in the gaming industry. Approximately, 15000/- for a candidate in a small company and around 20-30 lakhs for a big company.
Best metaverse games
The gaming industry has already entered the metaverse world by creating an avatar. Some of the top games in the metaverse are – Axie Infinity Sandbox Chain of Alliance Decentraland Alien world Farmers world Prospectors My neighbour Alice
PUBG was one of the major games that were played by both Millennials and GenZ in India and had the major market share of the mobile gaming market in India. Later the Government of India banned the mobile applications due to the tensions created between China and India citing data privacy as one of the reasons.
However, the company managed to release a new version of its game in India but it is said that even the new version of the game would get a ban in India, and let’s look at the reasons behind it.
Krafton which is the developer company of the mobile game had decided to roll out a new version of the game in India after the ban of its previous version of the game PUBG. The company had released a new game concentrating only on the Indian market named Battlegrounds Mobile India.
However, the efforts of the company in order to make a comeback in India are expected to be crushed as the parliaments in India have reported having called for a ban on the new version of the game.
Reasons Why Battlegrounds Mobile India might get ban
The parliaments in India have provided major reasons for banning the new version of PUBG which was released by Krafton concentrating only on the Indian market. On 22 May 2021, the current MLA of Arunachal Pradesh and the former Union Minister Ninong Ering had written a letter to the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi regarding the ban of the mobile game.
In the letter written to the Prime Minister, the MLA had clearly mentioned that the new game is just a relaunch of its old version PUBG. He also alleged that the developer company has employed developers from Tencent which is a Chinese-based tech company that was one of the leading investors of PUBG Mobile India and was in charge of the PUBG Mobile game in India.
He also conveyed in his letter that when you look at the terms and conditions of the mobile game application on the Google play store on the listing of Battleground Mobile India, it shows the term PUBG Mobile.
He also added that this matter is a concern of the security of the country and pointed out an investment of USD 22.4 billion in the homegrown gaming firm of the country Nodwin by the mobile game developer firm Krafton.
Even Abhishek Singhvi who is the current member of the parliament added that the release of Battlegrounds Mobile India will be a way through which Tencent would re-enter the mobile gaming market of India.
Number of mobile gamers across India
Even the CAIT (Confederation of all India Traders) had written a letter to the Union IT and communication Minister Ravishankar Prasad in order to ban the Battlegrounds Mobile India stating that it is not only a threat to national security and the sovereignty of India but also harms the younger generation of the country.
He has also requested Google to not list the game on the Google play store and conveyed not to let the developers of the game use the play store as a platform.
As per certain reports from the IGN India, the data of the players were sent outside the country and have been received in several other places which include China as well.
The CAIT also added that the mobile game would pose a threat to the millions of data of the users and would create privacy and data concerns among the Indian citizens.
However, Krafton had released a beta version of the game which has received a lot of positive reviews and major downloads. The company has conveyed that they would be releasing more slots in the beta version of the game. We will have to look forward to whether Battleground Mobile India would see a ban in the coming days or not.
FAQ
Is Battleground Mobile India banned in India?
No, it is not banned in India but might get banned soon as CAIT (Confederation of all India Traders) had written a letter to the Union IT and communication Minister, Ravishankar Prasad to ban the Battlegrounds Mobile India stating that it is not only a threat to national security and the sovereignty of India.
Why was PUBG banned in India?
PUBG was banned in India under section 69A of the Information Technology Act by the Centre citing these apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity, defence and security of the country.
When was PUBG banned in India?
PUBG was banned in India on September 2, the Indian government banned the game in India under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
PUBG mobile India was banned by the Government of India last year. However, there have been talks over the social media that the game would have a comeback in the country and there were recently some videos circulated through the social media about the relaunch of PUBG in the country. Let’s look at how PUBG mobile got permission to launch in India again.
The popular battle royale game PUBG mobile India is said to relaunch in India but with a new game and a new title name. According to the teasers which were released on the social media by the developers of the game the new version of the game could be called as Battlegrounds Mobile India.
Battlegrounds Mobile India
This will be an exclusive version of the game which will be launched for Indians. It is seen that the names of PUBG mobile India on YouTube and Facebook have already been changed to Battlegrounds Mobile India. This makes it more likely for the name to be changed. The official launch date of PUBG is still not yet out, but according to a theory there are speculations that it will be released on 10 June.
About the Past Ban
In September 2020 the popular battle royale game PUBG mobile was banned in the country, it was because the license for running the game was held by a Chinese company named Tencent. The reason for the ban was because of the high tension between India and China.
Along with hundreds of Chinese Apps, the Government of India has banned PUBG mobile regarding certain concerns such as prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state and public order and defense of India.
Since the ban, the developers of PUBG Krafton Inc. have cancelled the license of Tencent and had decided to launch the game under the own name of PUBG Corporation instead of Tencent.
New Guidelines
Approval by the Govt.
PUBG Mobile India has not got any approval to relaunch in India but it is seen that they wouldn’t require any permission to relaunch in the country. It is to be noted that the Government of India has not yet approved the launch of the game in India yet.
The Indian Government had said that it has not provided any permission in order to start a website or mobile apps or any service in the country. They conveyed this information in a reply towards a Right to Information (RTI) query which was enquired by information technology policy portal Medianama.
The above sentence means that the battle royale game PUBG has not received any permission from the Indian Government but it also conveys that the game does not require any prior permission from the Government of India according to the response by the Indian Government.
They wouldn’t require the permission from the government if the game is launched under the new entity and in this case PUBG mobile is planning to launch the game under PUBG Corporation instead of Tencent Games.
None of this has discouraged the company. The company has conveyed that it has plans to set up and start a new subsidiary company in India. The company is expected to have a local office, around 100 employees and is expected to have an investment of USD 100 million.
The registration of the company is a step taken by the company to ensure the government that the information collected by the users of the mobile application will remain inside the borders of the country. The company is said to have signed a deal with Microsoft for Azure cloud since they have two functional data servers in the country.
FAQ
Why was PUBG banned in India?
The reason that PUBG Mobile India was banned was India-China standoff at Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the presence of the Chinese entity – Tencent.
When was PUBG banned in India?
PUBG was banned in India on September 2, 2020, along with another 117 Chinese apps.
Is PUBG relaunching in India?
Yes South Korean gaming company Krafton will relaunch the India version of its popular game – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), for mobile users in a new avatar called Battlegrounds Mobile India.
Conclusion
The reason why the Government of India has not given permission may be because the version is banned by the Government and giving permission for one company would give hopes for other companies since they would also provide hopes for others.
Esports is a form of sport competition using video games which is often organized into multiplayer video games, particularly between professional players, individually or as team. Esports has managed to take over the market in India mainly because of the growth and promotion done on online streaming platform such as Youtube and Twitch. The word “esports” is getting increasingly popular by the day thanks to the multiplayer online games like PUBG and Fortnite.
The masses still don’t know that the esports industry is more than a decade old and has just shot up in India in the past few years with more developers and investors jumping into the sector. The most common video game genre of esports are multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first person shooter (FPS), fighting, card games, battle royale and real time strategy (RTS). The popular franchises include League of Legends, Dota and Counter strike.
Although the legitimacy of esports as a true sporting competition remains in question, they have been features alongside traditional sports in events such as Asian games, while even the International Olympic Committee are also discussing their inclusion into the future of Olympic events. In India esports accounted for around 4% of all online gaming users and 9.13% of aggregate revenue out of the overall online gaming market in FY20. The growth in esports prize money pool by 123.3% during 2016-2018 has attracted gaming enthusiasts to become professionals
According to Forbes, India ranks 16th, with a total revenue of $1.17 billion (8,000 crore approx.). Comparatively to, North America is estimated to generate revenues of almost $409 million in the next four years while China known to have largest gaming market in the world, with a total revenue of $37.9 billion (Rs 26.11 lakh crore approx.) in 2018, followed by US, Japan and Korea. This shows there is huge potential in the esports market and India needs to tap into that space.
In 2010, India only had 25 game developers whereas now we have 250 more joining the list every year. Corporate giants like Paytm, Alibaba, Tencent and even Nazara have been investing heavily in the Indian gaming market, which is currently one of the top 5 countries in terms of mobile gaming. Most of the revenue generated in esports is sponsored by companies like Asus, Oppo which have been funding to organize and promote esports competitions in India.
Popular esport events in India
Apart from the local tournaments like PUBG Mobile India Series 2019, for the first time, Mumbai is set to play host to one of the biggest esports gaming event, ESL (Electronic Sports League) which will see Dota 2 players from across the globe compete in the two-day tournament. According to a Forbes report, as of October 31st 2019, 285 players from India had earned $216,761.38 (Rs 1.49 crore) in various esports tournaments and games, ranking India at number 64.
Counter Strike remains the most popular and most played esports in India. Counter Strike was released in 2012. Since 2012 Counter Strike has been India’s most popular esports game. India was not a hub for esports back then. But now Indian esports are being recognized at an international level and getting international investments too. Counter Strike is a multiplayer first-person shooter which pits two teams against each other. Competitors are given the task of eliminating the other while completing separate objectives.
Dota 2
Dota 2 is one of the first esport that comes to mind while talking about India’s most popular esports games. Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena. The two featured teams can have 5 players each. To win Dota 2, each team has to destroy the opposing structure while defending theirs. Players have more than 100 characters to choose from. Each character has unique abilities, playing styles, and attributes.
Esports Market During Covid-19
The paradigm shift in the way Indians consume content and the way people socialize online has acted as a catalyst for man attention economy sectors including online gaming. According to a report by Barc and Nielson the number of smartphone game users per week grew from 60% in pre Covid times to 68% during the lockdown. Similarly the mobile games per user spent went from 151 minutes before covid 19 to 218 minutes after the lockdown.
Esports has a huge potential in the Indian market because of the high youth population. The esport segment has online gaming has witnessed significant growth in India in the past few thanks to proliferation of high end smartphone at affordable prices, as well as the rise of mobile games such as PUBG mobile, Free Fire, Clash of Legends, call of duty Mobile among PC and Console games.
Along with deeper penetration for high speed 4G internet and a rise in the number of online gamers the esports market has all the ingredients for growth. The aggregate revenue of esports startups and companies in India reached $68 Million in FY2020 and is projected to grow by CAGR 36% in the next 3 years, as per Inc42 Plus analysis of 36 companies including Jetsynthesys, Nazara technologies, Usports, Gamerji among others.
India’s online gaming revenue growth to hit inflation point
Role of The Stakeholders
From e-commerce platforms like Flipkart to Asus, high end gaming hardware manufacture s like Asus as each platform play a major role in making sure that budding gamers and professional get the required accessory or hardware. According to Leon Yu, Regional Head for India and South Asia, ASUS, “most gamers these days demand LCDs, mobility of hardware and mostly importantly performance. We have also ensured that affordability and performance is catered to with our new series of ROG gaming laptops, which start at Rs 50,000.”
In terms of affordability and availability, ecommerce platform like flipkart and amazon make sure that customers get the products at a cheaper price. Looking at the market opportunity, even unicorns such as Paytm and Hike have doubled down on games. While Paytm launched Paytm First Games as a multi-game platform, Hike-backed WinZO has also been growing rapidly and has raised plenty of funding in the recent months.
Connectivity is quintessential for the growth of the gaming industry and telecom providers too have been working around the clock to not only provide users with affordable data plans, but also work towards make high-speed data accessible across India. According to Anurag Khurana, Head of Esports, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, “In terms of data availability, Reliance Jio has setup 3,00,000 mobile towers and spread around 3.5 million km of high-speed broadband cables across India in order to improve the connectivity because I feel low latency is key for online gaming.”
Currently there is not much scope for professional gamers in India as the infrastructure and the ecosystem is not ready to support a lucrative livelihood for many. According to Akshat Rathee, “choosing to be a gamer is a risky proposition in India as there is not much scope. However, there are other avenues one can explore in the gaming industry. People can choose a career in game commentary, choose to be an influencer where they can play games and talk about it, or a coder who can write code to build AI for games.”
Data handlers are also a good option where they can track data issues and then the biggest avenue is voice-over artistes as many developers will look to localize game content for Indian gamers. A career in esports or gaming in India can easily earn you anywhere from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh in a month. Since esports doesn’t require any extreme physical strength, it is a gender neutral space. Sasha Hostyn is one of the most successful women in professional esports and recently won the Intel Extreme Masters 2018 tournament, taking home $50,000 (Rs 34.45 lakh).
Rise in Esport Prize Money Pool
As indicated earlier, esports has seen rising participation from Indian players as the prize money across esports tournaments has been on an upward trajectory since 2016. The entry of PUBG Mobile in India was game changing moment as it provided gamers a career option. As per sensor tower data for July 2020, out of PUBG Mobile 734 Mn downloads globally, India was the ranked top in terms of downloads, with 175 Mn installs or 24% market share.
The growth rate of Esports prize money in India
Of course, much of this growth has been in recent years, whereas esports is already a multi-billion dollar business in the US and China. So relatively speaking, India has a long way to go in terms of revenue and income for players, despite outpacing China and the US in terms of downloads. To put in perspective, in 2019, esports tournaments in the US offered over $40 Mn in prize money, while India’s largest tournaments the PUBG Mobile India Series 2020 offered Rs 50 Lakh as total prize money.
Smartphone Penetration
Aside from the internet penetration and demographic fit, esports market in India has been driven by the proliferation of high performance smartphones and increasing presence of gaming related. The number of smartphone users in India grew at a CAGR of 15% during 2015 to 2020. The growing demand for digital services for information, entertainment and communication through apps such as Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube have led to matured segment like esports.
Esport cafes are not only a way for people to play games without owning the requisite hardware, but this is where the competitive mentality is built through amateur tournaments. India is home to an estimated 350-plus such esports cafes with PC hardware giant NVIDIA announcing plans to expand its gaming footprint in India by adding 100 more cafes. Nemesis Gaming, League of Extraordinary Gamers (LXG) and Circle Gaming are few major esports cafe startups in India.
Rise in Startup Investments
The demand for competitive gaming rises in India, the esports and gaming segment is attracting adequate investor interests. Between 2014 and H1 2020, the total venture capital funding in Indian gaming startups was $448 Mn, according to Inc42 Plus. Among the gaming startups, the top-funded startups are Dream11 with $100 Mn in total funding, followed by Smaaash Entertainment with $82.6 Mn in funding and Nazara Technologies with $79 Mn.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to get into esports in India?
You need to pick one famous game and practice it well. Get as many wins as possible. The best thing to join esport is to join a league or play in an online tournament. The entry fees are very less. It gives you chance to play against high-level players.
Which are the best esports games in India?
Counter Strike, Dota 2, League of Legends, Overwatch are some of the best esports in India.
How esports organizations make money?
Esport organizations make money through content and tournament performance.
Does esports have a future in India?
Esports as an industry has unlimited scope in India. According to the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming, Esports will see rapid growth in the country and reach a cumulative revenue of up to ₹11,900 Crore.
The Indian online gaming Industry is growing at an exponential rate upon year and is expected to be worth $1.1 billion by 2021. The industry has experienced a drastic growth at the beginning of 2020 due to the pandemic. When other businesses shut down, the gaming industry got lots of new users. The number of games doubled after the lockdown and is expected to rise in 2021.
Online gaming has gained a strong foothold within the India entertainment industry. With a projected user base of more than 628 million gamers, this gives a whole new boost to the Indian economy. This industry contains game developers, designers, investors, marketers and gamers of all ages working together to come up with the latest cutting games, concepts and offers for players. Gaming has become one of India most exciting industries with more investment from both companies and consumers every year.
The online gaming industry is still quite an unexplored area in India but the companies that have taken the leap are flourishing and are now expected to grow by 41% in 2021. All this interest and potential makes India one of the top gaming markets amongst emerging global economies. Statistics show that the Indian gaming markets is the fastest growing one in the world.
According to a report ‘Gaming- India Story’, the online gaming Industry is said to be growing at the rate of CAGR of 22%. The report also claimed that the Indian Gaming Industry is expected to grow 41% annually due to the growth of digital infrastructure rise in quality and engaging gaming content. The gaming Industry in India is said to be valued at $3,750, by 2021. So far, the industry has attracted $350 million in investments from venture capitalists from 2014 to 2020.
Value of gaming companies from the financial year of 2007 to 2020 with estimates until 2022
Pankaj Karna, the managing director of Maple Capital Advisors said that, “With growing internet penetration, compelling economics, usage statistics and increasing ecosystem of entrepreneurs and developers focusing on this space we expect good growth in investments which are likely to at least double in this space in the next 1 – 2 years.” India has become the second largest market worldwide for app worldwide for app downloads.
The three key segments of online gaming are Real Money Games (RMG), Mobile centric or casual games and Esports. There has been a huge increase in the number of smartphone users which is why many gaming developers are looking on to capitalize on. At present, there are over 400 gaming startups and more than 500 million smartphone users in India, making mobile gaming lead by 85% share of the total online gaming sector in India.
Due to Covid 19 and substantial lockdown, visits to online gaming websites or apps rose by 24%. Moreover, engagement as measured by the amount of time spent on gaming sites or apps, also increased by 21% during the same time period. Platform such as Games2Win, WinZo Games, Hitwicket, Gamerji and Rummy recorded a tremendous increase in daily user’s base as well as the time spent playing those games. While Indian gaming companies like Dream11 and MPL are known worldwide.
Top Gaming Companies in India
In 2020 however, Esports have shown strong user growth and profitability, and so has the real money games, which besides lockdown also increased after the ban of popular multiplayer games like PUBG. Winzo games reported three times more user engagement and 30% higher traffic in online mobile gaming. Similarly Paytm First games also reported 200% increase, with 75,000 new users only during the pandemic.
Three in every five serious gamers are now playing for around four hours more than before the lockdown. Mobile gaming in particular as seen a steady rise during the lockdown as there were many people at their homes. During this time, around 15% of the Indian gamers shifted from playing freemium games to paid games. Through a survey, most gamers also agreed that mobile gaming helped them overcome isolation.
The Reasons For The Growth Of Online Gaming Industry
Accessibility to smartphones
The smartphones market plays a crucial role in the gaming industry. The increased competition requires offering more reasonable prices. As a result, anyone can afford a smartphone with great features. Along with the availability of faster internet connection, this leads to the perfect conditions for online gaming growth. The market will grow even more when people get access to a mobile device.
Gadgets used for playing video games in India
Investments by Chinese Tech firms
Chinese tech companies invested in the Indian gaming markets. According to estimates they managed to invest over $8 billion in the Tech sector. Companies such as Alibaba and Tescent gained stakes in some in some of the top Indian gaming companies. The government has recently put restrictions on Chinese investments during the Covid 19 Pandemic.
This however, did not stop the investors from investing in Indian gaming companies. Paytm First Games and Daraz has launched a successful gaming platform in Bangladesh. Tencent experienced a fall due to the lack of sporting events in the lockdown. But, they chose to invest in Dream 11, as they saw potential in the platform.
More people equals to more players
India has the second highest population in the world, with over 1.3 billion inhabitants as of the beginning of 2020. This means that there is a massive untapped base for the gaming industry in India, which has already benefitted the Indian economy to a great extent. The main reason for some games to get popular are when some people talk to each other and invite their family members to group games, influence their peer groups and spread the word about their games. This leaves a lot of scope for the gaming industry to make a foray into.
Youngsters in India love to play skill games. When it comes to the online availability of different games has taken this sector to a whole new level. There are numerous sites available so that Indians can choose their favorite games. The market needs to expand market the options and offers many more choices for different tastes. The game providers need to introduce more free games for passionate players.
Growing culture
The increase of number of players, results in a convenient gaming culture. The revenue generated will help the gaming industry grow and will help the local gaming communities and the ecosystems that include developers as well as consumers. In the last decade, the number of Indian game development companies has increased from 25 to 250, with new gaming startups appearing every month. It’s more appealing for the public to spend their money on businesses and companies that will develop products that are tailored to their own local tastes.
FAQ’s
Is the gaming industry growing?
Game console revenue, which includes the hardware and all game software and services, is expected to rise 20% worldwide compared with 2019, to $52.5 billion, according to Ward. Looking at digital PC and Mac sales, global revenue is expected to rise 11% from a year ago, to $39.5 billion.
Is the gaming industry dying?
The gaming industry is very far from dying, but there is a massive problem with the economics of the gaming industry at both the high and low end, and both of these problems mean that taking risks is dangerous. So the video game industry is playing it safe and probably too safe at the moment.
Why gaming industry is the best?
The gaming industry is considered to be one of the most exciting industries in tech because of its importance to culture, entertainment, and technological advancement.
Which country has the biggest gaming industry?
As of 2020, it is estimated that China ranks first among the biggest gaming markets worldwide, with a revenue of 40.85 billion U.S. dollars. The video gaming market in the United States ranked second, generating an approximate 36.92 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenues.
How big is the gaming industry?
Video games are a billion-dollar business and have been for many years. In 2020, the revenue from the worldwide PC gaming market was estimated at almost 37 billion U.S. dollars, while the mobile gaming market generated an estimated income of over 77 billion U.S. dollars.
Conclusion
Due to the widespread coronavirus pandemic, the gaming industry is thriving and growing like anything. This is because of the precautions that are taken for coronavirus. Social distancing has made people limit interaction with each other. This has led to a downfall in consumer and business activities. Online Gaming has become the platform that has provided an engaging distraction for people seeking social interaction.
Looking at the situation where it may take a while for the pandemic to settle and cool down, the expectation of the video games industry is to continue its upward growth trend. The gaming community is looking at a post-pandemic gaming world with a steady flow of new titles, campaigns on social media, quizzes and competitions. There is no stopping to the Gaming Industry that has made people interact in crisis situations.
We all like to play games, as it is considered to be one of the most intriguing activities for amusement and leisure. Be it Candy crush or PUB-G the craze for games in India has been on top. It is often said that this fun activity has the power to make you happy as it increases your brain function, releases serotonin which is a chemical that makes us feel delightful.
Well, the allure of playing games is not new, be it board games or virtual games, the excitement of it has always increased in India. After the technological advancement and the history of gaming has completely changed and transformed.
The one prominent area which did not get relatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic was the gaming industry all over the world. In fact, the pandemic lockdown gave a boost to this industry since people were forced to sit at their homes and explore some leisure activities.
According to a survey, there was a 30% increased in traffic in online mobile gaming in India during this period. Also, Paytm First Games reported that they saw an increase of 200% in the users of this online gaming platform.
18th Century: It was those times when people first discovered the concept of games in the Egyptian Dynasties. Later on in the 18th century as people started evolving the invention of card games and board games began to happen.
19th Century: People realized this leisure activity can be commercialized. Also this time people became advanced with the facilities of printing and manufacturing and hence started to produce the more vibrant and rich card and board games. For the first time, Monopoly was introduced in the year 1902 which is still a big sensation today when it comes to board games.
In the late 1930s, when computers were built the gaming advancements also began. The simple card games and board games were thought to be converted in the form of electronic means as well.
1950s–1990s: This was the era when the very first computer games and video games started becoming popular. Home computers had built-in games and portable video games became trendy. When mobile phones were released in the late 1990’s people in India were crazy about games like ‘Snakes’ on Nokia phones.
2000 – 2010: As the technology started upgrading and the mobile phones became better and better, the digital gaming industry valued around $5 billion.
2011 – 2016: When the technology rapidly started growing, VR games were introduced to people. The evolution of cameras, graphics, and sound quality enhanced the user experience in the gaming industry.
2016 – Today: Since 2016 till date, the global mobile gaming industry has never seen a huge downfall. Along with mobile phones, tablets, and laptops, people started purchasing specialized PCs that are designed to play heavy games with the most effective graphics and user interface. The trend of playing games professionally has also increased a lot in the Indian market.
In the past few years, the gaming industry in India is flourishing tremendously. From $62 billion in 2019 to $90 billion in 2020, the market continues to grow in robust ways. During the lockdown, the major segments that contributed to the growth were esports, mobile gaming, and real money gaming. The gaming industry has also been very significant in creating numerous job opportunities for people.
Today mobile gaming in India has reached millions of people. There are more than 600 million gamers around us and this is not going to stop anytime soon. India ranks 5th in engagement and awareness of gaming around the globe and this shows that people are totally involved in this segment.
Value of the gaming industry in India from financial year 2015 to 2020
Gaming firms have now started earning handsome revenues from this sector by generating a huge volume of game downloads, shooting advertisements, and elevating user experience. These companies also charge their customers some amount for premium game packs, subscriptions, purchases of coins, and other such chargeable extensions.
Gamers and their Preferences
Even though many games are considered to be gender-neutral, but there are games that are specifically designed for males or females. Today over 80% of the gamers population is below the age of 24 years while only 8% of the people age above 40. Youngsters tend to your internet more and play online games. According to the statistics, over 83% of the gamers’ population is male while only 17% is female.
While categorizing the genre of games, females prefer games that are related to puzzle or arcade games, whereas males prefer games that have action, sports, and thrill. Usually, such games are heavy in usage and require efficient devices. India has world-class infrastructure, IT skills, and more than that, the talent which has advanced gaming technology. The gamers enjoy the games developed by gaming centers like Microsoft, Disney, Sony, Playdom, UbiSoft, etc.
Top 10 online games in India
Here is the list of Top 10 games that Indians have absolutely loved and have been most trendy to date –
1. Age and gender dominance is likely to improve in the near future. Online gaming will soon see a shift in the age and gender composition of the total population since the huge untapped market is likely to experience this world of gaming
2. Cloud gaming is going to get very popular especially in India. All people would need to have is a stable internet connection and they could get an experience of gaming like never before.
3. Freemium companies will help the industry to get better economic conditions. We are a very price-sensitive market and freemium gamers would continue to search for alternatives if the companies start charging for premium services.
4. Emerging technologies will help our country to uplift the gaming industry even more. The use of artificial intelligence augmented reality in games, virtual reality, modular technology, and cloud based gaming infrastructure will be the key drivers of the gaming industry in the future.
FAQ
How big is the gaming industry in India?
The online gaming industry in India is expected to grow up to $2.8 billion till 2022.
How much does the gaming industry make 2020?
Global gaming industry is expected to surge $179 billion in 2020.
Which country has the most gamers?
According to Statista, Vietnam is the country with most number of gamers as of 2020.
Conclusion
The Indian online gaming industry is growing every month these days. Especially after the pandemic, when kids have more time and even the adults got introduced to this world of gaming. Moreover, it has even given opportunities to entrepreneurs to find more ways to market their products. Additionally, there are startups emerging in this industry and even investors are heavily funding these startups seeing their potential to grow in the country.
PUBG Corporation said in a statement on Tuesday that Tencent Games in India will no longer be authorized to publish the mobile version of its PUBG franchise. The South Korean gaming company said it will take on all publishing responsibilities itself within the country, where PUBG was the biggest grossing mobile game last month. India is PUBG Mobile’s largest market, accounting for nearly $34 billion of its value in two days.
The Indian government earlier this week had banned PUBG Mobile and 117 other Chinese apps including Apus Launcher Pro, AppLock, WeChat Work, Baidu among others. Soon after the ban was announced, PUBG was removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. However, it has not been blocked by the Internet service providers yet which means that the users who already have the app installed can still use.
In a statement, the company said, “PUBG Corporation has made the decision to no longer authorize the PUBG MOBILE franchise to Tencent Games in India. Moving forward, PUBG Corporation will take on all publishing responsibilities within the country. As the company explores ways to provide its own PUBG experience for India in the near future, it is committed to doing so by sustaining a localized and healthy gameplay environment for its fan.”
Why was PUBG banned in India?
PUBG Corporation is a South Korean Company and not a Chinese company. However, the mobile version of the PUBG game was developed by Tencent Games, which is a Chinese company. This was the reason why only the PUBG Mobile was banned and not the PC or console version of the app.
The government on 2nd September banned 118 applications- a majority of being Chinese, including popular ones such as PUBG, WeChat Work, CamCard, Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade and Alipay; stating that these were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, security of State and public order.” This is in addition to banned Chinese 59 apps including TikTok, Shareit, club Factory, Shein in June to ensure safe cyberspace in the country. These banned chinese apps had over billions of potential Indian users and these apps were successful in luring the users to download them in large numbers.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), said it was invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009, and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 118 mobile apps; engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
PUBG has a massive fan base in India with every other teen that has it installed in his/her device. The recent ban came as a shock to everyone but PUBG Corporation has seen an overwhelming amount of support for the game from the country’s player base. It looks like PUBG is analyzing every move to make its comeback in India, As India is its largest market with more than 175 million downloads. PUBG is exploring ways to provide its own experience for India soon.
The government on 2nd September banned 118 applications- a majority of being Chinese, including popular ones such as PUBG, WeChat Work, CamCard, Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade and Alipay; stating that these were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, security of State and public order.” This is in addition to banned Chinese 59 apps including TikTok, Shareit, club Factory, Shein in June to ensure safe cyberspace in the country. These banned chinese apps had over billions of potential Indian users and these apps were successful in luring the users to download them in large numbers.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), said it was invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009, and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 118 mobile apps; engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
It’s such a sheer loss to our country’s dignity and economy that all the while we are bragging and outraging against any service provided to us by China , we never lose to stay in their top 3 users.
The list of banned apps in India includes apps like PUBG, Baidu, AppLock, TikTok, ShareIt, WeChat, UC Browser and so on. A recent study reveals that India has been the world’s fastest-growing app-market over the past few years. Reports suggest that Chinese apps are ruling the Indian app market as users have downloaded them in significant numbers. However, Indian intelligence agencies asked government to block 118 mobile applications as being a threat to national security. India’s security agencies raised concerns that apps in the list of banned Chinese apps are safe.
Chinese apps banned in India released officially by Government on 29 June
As tensions at India and china border has to lead to another list of banned Chinese apps. India’s ministry of information and technology has issued 118 Chinese mobile apps to banned from the Indian market.
PUBG Banned In India
List Of Chinese Apps That Got Banned On 2nd September 2020
| 118 Chinese Apps That Got Banned on 2 September 2020 |
|— |— |— |—
| 1. Apus Launcher Pro-Theme, Live, Wallpapers, Smart |
|2. Apus Launcher-Theme, Call show, Wallpaper, Hide Apps |
|3. Apus Security-Antivirus, Phone Security, Cleaner |
|4. Apus Turbo Cleaner 2020-Junk Cleaner, Anti-virus|
|5. Apus Flashlights-Free & Bright|
|6. Cut Cut- Cut Out & Photo Background Editor|
|7. Baidu|
|8. Baidu Express Edition|
|9. FaceU- Inspire Your Beauty|
|10. ShareSave by Xiomi: Latest Gadgets, Amazing deals|
|11. Camcard- Business Card Reader|
|12. Camcard For SalesForce|
|13. Camcard Business|
|14. CamOCR|
|15. InNote|
|16. VooV Meeting- Tencent Video Conferencing|
|17. Super Clean- Master Of Cleaner, Phone Booster|
|18. WeChat Reading|
|19. Government WeChat|
|20. Small Q Brush|
|21. Tencent Weiyun|
|22. Pitu|
|23. WeChat Work|
|24. Cyber Hunter|
|25. Cyber Hunter Lite|
|26. Knives Out-No rules, Just Fight|
|27. Super Mecha Champions|
|28. LifeAfter|
|29. Dawn Of Isles|
|30. Ludo World-Ludo Superstar|
|31. Chess Rush|
|32. PUBG Mobile Nordic Map:Livik|
|33. PUBG Mobile Lite|
|34. Rise Of Kingdoms:Lost Crusade|
|35. Art Of Conquest: Dark Horizon|
|36. Dank Tanks|
|37. Warpath|
|38. Game Of Sultans|
|39. Gallery Vault: Hide Picture And Videos|
|40. Smart AppLock|
|41. Message Lock(SMS Lock)|
|42. Hide App-Hide Application Icon|
|43. AppLock|
|44. AppLock Lite|
|45. Dual Space- Multiple Accounts & App Cloner|
|46. ZAKZAK Pro- Live Chat & Video Chat Online|
|47. ZAKZAK LIVE: Live Chat & Video Chat|
|48. Music-Mp3 Player|
|49. Music Player- Audio Player & 10 Bands Equilizer|
|50. HD Camera Selfie Beauty Camera|
|51. Cleaner- Phone Booster|
|52. Web Browser & Fast Explorer|
|53. Video Player All Format For Android|
|54. Photo Gallery & Album|
|55. Photo Gallery HD & Editor|
|56. Music player- Bass Booster- free Download|
|57. HD Camera- Beauty Cam With Filters & Panorama|
|58.HD Camera Pro & Selfie Camera|
|59. Music Player- MP3 Player & 10 Bands Equilizer|
|60. Gallery HD|
|61. Web Browser- Fast, privacy & Light Web Explorer |
|62. Web Browser- Secure Explorer|
|63. Music Player- Audio Player|
|64. Video Player- All Format HD Video Player|
|65. Lamour Love All Over The World|
|66. Amour- Video Chat & Call All Over The World|
|67. MV Master- Make Your Status Video & Community|
|68. MV Master- Best Video Maker & Photo Video Editor|
|69. APUS Message Center-Intelligent Management|
|70. LivU Meet New People & Video Chat With Strangers|
|71. Carron Friends: Carrom Board & Pool Game|
|72. Ludo All Star- Play Online Ludo Game & Board Games|
|73. Bike Racing: Moto Traffic Rider Bike Racing Games|
|74. Rangers Of Oblivion: Online ACtion MMO RPG Game|
|75. GO SMS PRO- Messanger, Free Themes, Emoji|
|76. Z Camera- Photo Editor, Beauty Selfie, Collage|
|77. U-Dictionary: OXford Dictionary Freee Now Translate|
|78. Ulike- Define Your Selfie In Trendy Style|
|79. Tantan-Date For Real|
|80. MICO Chat: New Friends Banaen Aur Live Chat Karen|
|81. Kitty Live- Live Streaming & Video Live Chat|
|82. Malay Social Dating App to Date & Meet Singles|
|83. AliPay|
|84. AliPayHK|
|85. Mobile Taobao|
|86. Youku|
|87. Road Of Kings-Endless Glory|
|88. Sina News|
|89. Netease News|
|90. Penguin FM|
|91. Murderous Pursuits|
|92. Tencent Watchlist Tencent technology|
|93. Learn Chinese AI-Super Chinese|
|94. HUYA LIVE- Game Live Stream|
|95. Little Q Album|
|96. Fighting Landlors- Free and Happy Fighting Landlords|
|97. Hi Meitu|
|98. Mobile Legends: Pockets|
|99. VPN for TikTok|
|100. VPN For TikTok|
|101. penguin E-Sports Live Assistant|
|102. Buy cars- Offer Everything You Need, Special Offers And Low prices|
|103. iPick|
|104. Beauty Camera Plus- sweet Camera & Face Selfie|
|105. Parallel Space Lite- Dual App|
|106. Chief Almighty: First Thunder BC|
|107. MARVEL Super War NetEase Games|
|108. AFK Arena|
|109. Creative Destruction NetEase Games|
|110. Crusaders Of Light NetEase Games|
|111. Mafia City Yotta Games|
|112. Onmyojio NetEase Games|
|113. RideOut Heroes NetEase Games|
|114. Yimeng Jianghu-chu Liuxiang has been fully updated|
|115. Legend: Rising Empire NetEase Games|
|116. Arena Of Valor:5v5 Arena Games|
|117. Soul Hunnters|
|118. Rules Of Survival|
Chinese Apps banned in India
Most Popular Chinese Apps among the Top 100 in India
Social content platforms: Helo and SHARE it
Entertainment and short video apps: TikTok, LIKE, and Kwai
Web browser apps: UCBrowser and UCBrowserMini
Video and live streaming apps: LiveMe, Bigo Live, and VigoVideo
Utility applications: BeautyPlus, Xender and Cam Scanner
Gaming apps and software: PUBG, Clash of Kings, Mobile Legends
E-commerce applications: ClubFactory, Shein, and Romwe
Wednesday’s announcements comes amid renewed tensions between India and China owing to the stand-off on the disputed boundary in Ladakh that has beeen on since May 2020. In a statement, the government said this move would safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and Internet usera and teh decision was a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian Cyberspace.
By this, it’s crystal clear that China’s sole motive is to raise Beijing’s profile as a leading power of humanitarian assistance throughout the globe. China’s bilionaire diplomacy aims to achieve three immediate objectives:
shift the focus away from talking about the origin of corona virus in Wuhan
establish makeover
expanding their market in every possible way
become the biggest economy all over the world.
Chinese Banned Apps
For India, the pandemic presents an opportunity to demonstrate its willingness and capacity to shoulder more responsibility. It’s been a backlash that China is being criticised for their cheap winning tricks to conquer the world. It should be known that political impact of corona virus pandemic is yet to crystallize.
Since , the COVID-19 has been a great leveller across the world and we know that it’s effects stand to be devastating. Both countries , India and China , have sent their troops towards LAC (Line of Actual Control). The aggression seems to rise in it’s various form.
The Ministry said it had received many complaints about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers that have locations outside India. “The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of our country, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” it stated.
Additionally, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs, has sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these “malicious apps” and similar bipartisan concerns have been flagged by various public representatives, both outside and inside Indian Parliament.
Sonam Wangchuk Went #BOYCOTT-ing!
Sonam Wangchuk, whose works inspired “3 Idiots” , posted a video on You tube. It said that Indians should boycott everything which is from China to avenge the tensions between the two biggest economies.
Wangchuk believes that the only way to defeat China is by using “wallet power”. We all know that the Chinese products and goods that we buy have been funding their army since a very long time ago.It’s high time and we should boycott them and stop them there itself.
India Banned 118 Chinese Apps
Soon after Wangchuk’s video went viral, #BoycottChina, #BoycottMadeinChina, #BoycottChineseApps and #BoycottTiktok began trending on social media. Bollywood actor MilindSoman also joined the bandwagon and decided to uninstall Chinese app Tiktok from his phone.
Not just celebrities, but many Indians have taken the hatred all over the internet since the beginning of the pandemic. Several even wanted to take revenge against China for the same. In fact, many Indians have been searching on Google– “how to delete or remove Chinese apps” from their phones.
It’s funny how every hatred towards anyone is actually thrown away very casually by using a simple terminology boycott.We are left with only one solution. To boycott it. Boycott movies. Boycott apps. Why, even boycott human beings!
Every time, when something against national interest happens, we witness such outrages against some app and services.
The only reasons of bans and protests are:
origin
privacy concerns
Since 2018, TikTok happens to be one of the most popular apps in India even today, even after countless calls for bans. As a matter of fact, TikTok is a legit source of income for several Indians. I don’t know how embarrassing it is, but the employment sector of India is made fun of because so called ‘Youth of India‘ is busy making TikTok. We have taken a mere fight all over the internet which was TikTok vs. YouTube. Can anyone believe this !
If you were to scour through and delete all Chinese apps, your phone (assuming it isn’t made in China) would probably be left with only a handful of apps. but that’s how we can work more, and this can also genrate a source of income for youngsters who hav keen interest in this field. PM Modi asked out all the youngsters to create gaming applications in his recent ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Who would know that this was for banning majority of gaming Applications in the country.
Based on information collected by Indian intelligence agencies, the Indian government fears Following security risks and cyber espionage attempts. Chinese spies could collect critical information through malware and spyware in Android and iOS apps. The information is then sent to servers in China and could be used to get details on army location. Army troops, especially, border troops from the Indian Armed Force and Central Armed Police Personnel (CAPF) are asked to urgently uninstall them from their smart phones.
Also, devices made in China, such as Huawei and ZTE have already been banned from use by international border troops in the LAC region (Line of Actual Control). Its been noted that the ban does not apply in whole country due to obvious reasons.
Many Indian developers have been working to compete with the Chinese market of apps. App developers One Touch AppLabs launched an application – ‘Remove China Apps’ on May 17. As the name suggests, it’s work is same. When you download the app, you can run a scan through your phone. It will detect the Chinese apps on your phone and give you an option to delete them. If you click on the red bin icon next to the concerned app, it will uninstall the app from your phone. Several people have also shared screenshots on social media to show that they’ve used the app.
The app was at the top spot of Google Play’s top free apps list and it has been downloaded by over 5 million Indian users since its launch. This development came at a time when anti-China sentiment is high in the country, sparked by the novel corona virus pandemic, India-China border dispute, and more. But later the app was taken down from Google Play store a few weeks ago.
Another app playing on similar sentiments – Mitron – has also gained traction over the last several days and is being touted as an alternate to TikTok.
Since there is no immediate replacement of certain Chinese apps, one of the top leading industries of India, JIO has offered a wide range of apps too. Even if there are many alternatives , then also we are left with the only one to reply such aggression in a polite way.
In this time of pandemic, China is pushing borders against India and other neighboring countries.China has a powerful and bigger weapon and that is Economy and that is why China is getting political. China is using its economy to dominate our neighbouring countries and thus it is becoming a superpower.
It is the worst time for India to go on a war as our economy is down and this war couldn’t be won by money as China has its allies around us. It is helping our neighbouring countries in infrastructure and other projects but if no one uses them, it becomes difficult for these countries to pay back China. China also overstates his own bills and there comes China again and asks to handle the operations and takes control over these infrastructures so that it can use these bases as military base in times of war and be prepared. In case, the war is held, it will be from all the sides as we are surrounded by China’s allies. China has a military base in Africa and it is using it to threaten U.S. However, India is taking serious precautions to make China realise that it will impact their economy as well.
Although this is not for the first time as the supporting stand of China towards Pakistan pot URI attack also led to a campaign to boycott Chinese products in India. However, this time, many social media influencers are coming up with several reasons to boycott Chinese products to spread awareness among Indian citizens. I would like to share some YouTube links which are helpful to understand the agenda of China for using Economy as a weapon against India:- SonamWangchuk
Baba Ramdev
These videos will also help in understanding the reasons to boycott Chinese products. There are many alternatives available for the Chinese apps and if we start using these alternative apps instead of the Chinese apps, it will affect the economy of China. As India is the biggest importer of Chinese goods and trade deficit of India with China is one of the biggest between two trading partners. A boycott is only possible if we start using alternatives from other countries or we become self-reliance as our honorable Prime minister wanted to say and import substitution can be done. If we will be able to boycott Chinese products completely then China will be in a situation where he will need to think twice before waging a war against any neighbouring countries. Our country now needs to manufacture products which are ‘Made in India’ but are ‘Made for the world’.
Here are some examples, how Indians are totally depend on Chinese apps and using them continuously and on daily basis and these apps are the reason behind the growth of Chinese Economy:
According to facts provided by some news and personals, China is using the data from the Chinese invested apps and Chinese apps to gain information and also some information have been hacked by China through these apps as well.Recently a person from Vadodara Twitter account was hacked and the access point were seen as China. He stated that his account was synced with Pubg mobile and that might be the reason of hacking. China is a stakeholder in the company Tencent which has developed Pubg. Now this becomes more important to boycott these Chinese apps, to protect your data and information and also in order to support India so that China’s biggest weapon can be used against them.
India is also trying their best to deal with China and make them taste their own medicine. They have reviewed the FDI so that Indian can’t Chinese puppet like our neighbouring countries. We are late but we are not in China’s trap and we have learnt the truth about China’s economy.
Vocal For Local campaign
Prime Minister Modi in his address to the nation on May 12, 2020 launched a ‘VOCAL FOR LOCAL‘ campaign. He urged the citizens of India to buy and promote local goods and brands. The Prime Minister further said that global brands were once local but when people started supporting them they went global.
It is known that India and China are the two fastest growing economies in the world and India is the largest importer of Chinese goods and services in the world.
The trade deficit between India and China is the largest among the major trading partners. It is interesting to note that India imports about seven times more from China than it exports. India imports more than $ 50 billion worth of goods from China and exports $ 2.5 billion worth of goods to China.
It is a known fact that Chinese products are very cheap compared to their Indian counterparts. In addition, the Chinese government also provides subsidies to its exporters. India spends around 9% on transportation, energy etc., but this cost is nil by the import duty imposed on China by India. To avoid import duties, many Chinese companies use trans-shipment routes — sending goods to Bhutan and then India.
Globalization has spread its roots so deep in our lives and the supply chain is so interconnected, the productions process is so complex that it is difficult to isolate one country and boycott it’s goods completely but as Mr. Sonam Wangchuk mentioned, systematic and phased boycott is possible. We can starts from stop using the Chinese software in a week and hardware in a year. We need to constantly make efforts to ease the business environment in India and bring out labour reforms and look for less expensive alternatives which will take time but it is the time to make some uncommon decisions that will impact our lives and will help Indian Economy and will impact Chinese Economy as well.
The Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT)
CAIT
A traders’ organization, on Sunday expressed solidarity with the Ladakh-based educational reformer and visionary Sonam Wangchuk’s appeal to boycott Chinese goods. Tension between India and China, the man who inspired Bollywood blockbuster “3 Idiots”, has appealed and asked Indians to boycott all Chinese companies. In a tweet, the engineer-turned-education reformer asked people to boycott all Chinese products in Ladakh to stop Beijing’s “bullying” and to free 1.4 billion bonded labourers in the country.
CAIT, which claims to represent seven crore merchants, said it had identified around 3,000 categories of heavily imported Chinese products “which should be immediately replaced by Indian products as good quality for such products Indian replacements are available “
CAN INDIA REALLY BOYCOTT CHINESE PRODUCTS
India imports many raw materials as well as finished products like steel, minerals etc. from China. When it comes to boycott imports from China, this can only be done in the case of finished goods but the import of raw materials from China cannot be stopped.
India also imports consumer durable like electrical appliances, mobile phones, cars etc. Medicinal drugs like leprosy, antibiotics etc. from China. In addition, the Chinese smartphone market accounts for $ 8 billion of India’s smartphone market (Lenovo, Oppo, Vivo, etc.). If India planned to boycott Chinese products, India’s GDP would fall drastically.
After the launch of ‘Make in India‘ campaign by Prime Minister Modi, many Chinese companies have set up their units in India, employing hundreds of thousands of workers in India. If India boycott Chinese products, these companies may face pressure from Chinese authorities to stop their production in India, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed.
As mentioned above, India imports about seven times more from China than its exports. If India plans to boycott Chinese products than find an alternative that can match the cost and availability is almost impossible. Thus, India’s GDP can be contracted.
5- It is interesting to note that almost every product we use has a little bit of China. Smartphones, laptops, air conditioners, etc. which we use in our daily life, some parts are manufactured in China.
We must understand that the present process of manufacturing is interlinked. For example, a phone is made with the help of Chinese laborers and land, investment from a different country says that the US has made an innovation from Japan and can end the Made in India apps. Every product has the same process when it comes to labor, investment, innovation, etc. Thus, it can be concluded that each nation cannot be separated nor its good can be boycotted.
Many countries in the world started boycotting products from various countries, but were unsuccessful due to the complex manufacturing process. Some of them are listed below:
1- In 1930, China tried to boycott all Japanese products to protest against the Japanese colony, but failed.
2- In 2003, the US attempted to boycott French goods after 9/11 in protest of France’s refusal to send troops to Iraq but then failed.
SO IS THERE ANY ALTERNATIVE?
Sonam Wangchuk
Recently, Sonam Wangchuk answered several questions on the boycott of Chinese products. He said that the customer is king. This means that consumers should stop using Chinese products. He chanted a boycott of China’s software in a week, hardware in a year, finished and non-essential products in a year, and systemic boycott of essential products, raw materials, etc. in the coming years.
We can also implement the import-substitution method in India to boycott Chinese products. This means that the products we import from China can be manufactured in India, but in the short term this is impossible.
The Indian government should reduce the rates at which loans are issued to Indian companies like China. In addition, the government should provide infrastructure, services, etc. to prepare Indian companies to compete with China. India may boycott Made in China products but in a systematic and planned manner as stated by Sonam Wangchuk.
Alan Joseph
