Online gaming industry will not be a job driver in near term: Deltatech Gaming CMO Joydeep Mukherjee on imposing 28% GST

The Finance Ministry recently notified amendments to Goods and Service Tax (GST) rules about online gaming and casinos. As per the new rules, a 28 per cent GST will be applicable at the game's entry-level of full face value. In simple words, a player who comes with Rs 100 will have to pay around Rs 22 to the government. This means that the player will be able to play with the remaining Rs 78.
 
Joydeep Mukherjee, CMO, Deltatech Gaming, feels that the 28 per cent GST on the real-money gaming industry in India is pinching consumers more than organisations.
 
"So 28 per cent GST is something which directly hits the consumers more than the organisation because it's their investment which gets segregated. That too on the money they would have paid taxes on, as they would get salaries only after deduction of tax," Mukherjee said.
 
When asked about the impact of 28 per cent GST on online games like poker and rummy - which, according to a study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi) are games of skill - Mukherjee said that the number of people playing online games on their platforms remains more or less the same.
 
"We're still in the process where we get to see the full impact of this (28 per cent GST on online gaming). The number of people playing on the platform is kind of holding, but people are definitely feeling the pinch of the amount that they have to now share," he added.

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But what is worrying the industry, which witnessed a surge after the COVID-19 pandemic, is that the 28 per cent GST on online gaming will not only have an impact on job creation but also hamper innovation.

"The gaming industry, at least in the near term, will probably not be a job driver in the market. So, two things will be immediately affected to some extent: one would be the number of jobs being created, and the second would be the kind of innovations and product technology investments that we are making that might be affected. However, we will try to keep the momentum going," Mukherjee summed up.