Gaming has been making headlines in recent days as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the subject during the Budget 2022.

Indian Prime Minister addressed how India is presently one of the world's top five mobile gaming markets and in the next two years, the mobile gaming sector is likely to achieve a worth of INR 3 lakh crore.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her Budget speech for the financial year 2022-2023, said: "Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) task force will be set up to build domestic capacity to serve our markets and global demand."

An Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) task group will be established by the Indian government. This task group will assist in the development of the domestic capacity to support Indian markets as well as global demand. 

The Rajya Sabha session on Feb. 3 sheds light on esports and India's participation in the 2022 Asian Games.

Ms Sushmita Dev posed the questions, which were answered by Anurag Singh Thakur, India's Minister of Sports.

The following is the Q&A from the Rajya Sabha session on February 3rd. 

Questions: 

• (a) whether Government is aware that e-Sports is going to be a medal event with a chance of winning 24 medals in 2022 Asian games;
• (b) whether India is going to participate in the Asian games e-Sports division given that India currently has a booming e-Sports scenario;
• (c) if so, whether Government would provide training facilities for the e-Sports contingent
  of India;
• (d) if so, whether there is an official Government organisation for e-Sports in India that would oversee this process; and
• (e) if not, the approach Government would take in this regard?

Answers: 

• (a) & (b) - E-sports is included in Asian Games 2022 as a Medal Sports discipline. Entries of players / teams from India in Asian Games are sent by the Indian Olympic Association to the Organizing Committee of the Games. As informed by Indian Olympic Association, ‘Entry By Number’ Form was received from the Organizing Committee of Asian Games 2022 and after necessary process, the Form has been submitted back to the Organizing Committee of Asian Games 2022.
• (c) to (e) -  Promotion and Development (including training) of specific sports discipline is mainly the responsibility of the concerned National Sports Federation (NSF). This Ministry supplements the efforts of the NSFs by providing financial assistance to recognized NSFs for preparation and participation of Indian sportspersons/teams in international sporting events. At present, no Federation/Association has been recognized for e-sports by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. 

According to the minister, it is the responsibility of the concerned National Sports Federation to promote and develop any sport. The Ministry of Sports provides financial assistance to these federations in order for respective sports to grow.

Furthermore, the Indian Olympic Association has submitted the 'Entry By Number' (Number of Participating Games) to the Asian Games 2022 organising committee, which had a deadline of January 14th.

The Ministry of Sports currently recognises no federation/association for esports.