The online mobile gaming segment has a lot of potential and must be tapped, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said.

“The gaming industry has got massive potential. I think the experience with chess and cricket demonstrate that this is an area that India must tap,” Kant told BusinessLine on the sidelines of a meeting that he had with a delegation from online gaming app Mobile Premier League (MPL) at NITI Aayog.

“They (online games) should be synchronised with real matches. And, if the real world and the gaming world are synchronised, you will see a huge boom,” said Kant.

Online gaming apps that integrate multiple games on a single platform are gaining ground in India.

Such apps also offer users the opportunity to win real money by performing well in gaming tournaments on a daily basis. Such tournaments may also have an entry fee.

Sai Srinivas Kiran, Co-founder and CEO of MPL, said the industry has benefited from low data costs and digital payments that have become easier.

However, he said that it was time e-sports was accepted and acknowledged widely. “For starters, we are trying to figure out ways in which we can create some kind of a scholarship (for e-sports),” Kiran said.

Kiran was also hopeful of a push from the government with regard to the policies around e-sports and such platforms over the next few years. He said the idea was to create a neutral representative organisation for the segment.

“We are working with multiple industry bodies. We are talking to multiple players in the industry, to get all of these things together and make one single representation,” said Kiran.

Push for open platform

Gaming developers and their products are a big focus area in this segment and Kiran said the idea going forward would be to have an open platform where developers can make any game and “publish it on the fly”.

Kant also batted for gaming developers getting access to such platforms to showcase their products to a global audience.

“A new world of gaming creators can emerge from India and they have the massive potential of capturing the world because the gaming industry is only going to grow and expand,” he said.