Union Budget 2025 | Expect 'abnormally' high tax on gaming sector to be corrected: Amrit Kiran Singh, President of Skill Online Games Institute

He observed, 'Over the past 15 months it has been impossible to block offshore platforms due to "domain farming" or get them to register and pay taxes in India.'

The Union Budget for the upcoming financial year is slated to be presented on February 1, 2025, by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. It has been anticipated that the Narendra Modi government may consider slashing income tax for individuals earning up to Rs 15 lakhs per annum and extend the tax relief bracket in a bid to provide relief to the middle class and boost consumption, as per several reports.

Speaking about the expectations of the gaming sector, Amrit Kiran Singh, President of the Skill Online Games Institute (SOGI), said "The huge USD 300 bn Global Online Games Industry (4 times the size of the Movie + Music industry together) has the potential to contribute significantly, for several decades, to India's GDP growth and jobs, like IT has done. Negatives like addiction can be mitigated through use of "smart tech". The massive 1400 per cent increase in GST in October 2023 ostensibly introduced from a moralistic perspective, has not met its objectives as it has only caused 83 per cent of Indian player spends on Online Games to migrate from Indian platforms to "no tax” offshore (mainly Chinese) platforms."

He further observed, "Over the past 15 months it has been impossible to block offshore platforms due to "domain farming" or get them to register and pay taxes in India."

Spelling out what the industry will be looking for from the Narendra Modi government as it presents its third budget, Singh said "There is an urgent need to address the elephant in the room (abnormally high taxes) and correct the situation."

He also reminded the government about 'the "review" mechanism that the Finance Ministry had promised the industry.'