7/1/23, 5:11 PM Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Electronics & IT

MeitY releases Draft amendments to the IT

(Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics
Code) Rules, 2021 in relation to online gaming

Online gaming industry poised for rapid expansion and

growth: MoS Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Posted On: 02 JAN 2023 8:50PM by PIB Delhi

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology today released draft amendments to the IT
intermediary rules 2021, pertaining to Online Gaming for public consultations.

The draft has been prepared to ensure that online games should be offered in conformity with Indian
laws and that the users of such games be safeguarded against potential harm.

Last week,on 26th December, the Government through a gazette notification, notified change in
Allocation of Business rules designating Meity as the nodal ministry for online gaming related
concerns. Today, on 2nd January, merely a week later, the Ministry released the draft rules for public
consultation.

Briefing reporters on the proposed draft, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Shri Rajeev
Chandrasekhar affirmed that "The rules are simple - we would like the online gaming ecosystem to
expand & grow and be an important catalyst to India’s One trillion dollar Digital economy goal by
2025-26. We also envision a bigger role for startups in the online gaming industry”.

The Minister said that the Ministry had moved swiftly in framing of the policy and this was possible
due to a series of meetings/consultations conducted by MeiTY with stakeholders prior to drafting the
policy. He added that the Ministry would be holding another set of public consultations to finalize the
policy soon.
He said the draft has proposed a self-regulatory mechanism which, in future, may also regulate the
content of online gaming and ensure that the games do not have violent, addictive or sexual content.

As of now, the age gating is 18 years and we would like to keep it that way and see if the present
framework works to expand the innovation ecosystem around online gaming while keeping it safe &
trusted for gamers.

Speaking on the safety concerns, the Minister said around 40 to 45 percent of the gamers in India are
women, and therefore it was all more important to keep the gaming ecosystem safe.

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7/1/23, 5:11 PM Press Information Bureau

He said the draft rules have strict provisions against betting and wagering. The online games that
allow wagering on the outcome are effectively a no-go area, he stressed.
 

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