India is on the cusp of redefining its position in e-sports and gaming on the world stage. Abhishek Binaykia, Partner, Leader Sports Advisory & Technology Advisory, Grant Thornton Bharat, on the sidelines of India Gaming Show 2025 last month, said some key factors are propelling India's video gaming and e-sports industry.

"If you look at consumption today from a mobile gaming perspective, India has the highest number of mobile game downloads. Almost 15 billion plus games are downloaded annually. In e-sports, the price pool over the last 5 years has gone up 10x. We're seeing a lot of advancements in cloud, in AI, and smartphone penetration is extremely high. We've got the lowest cost of data, one of the lowest costs of data in the world," said Binaykia.

He said video gaming is now a legitimate career option. "India is really on the cusp of becoming a global gaming superpower... although we've not been able to monetise esports as much, given all the changes, both from a policy, (and) games perspective, e-sports is very well poised to take off."

In terms of key regulatory challenges, Binakiya says regulations will play a key role in shaping the video gaming industry. "India will shape and affect how the global gaming industry goes and moves in the next three-five years, with more development and more content creation coming in from India."

He said global companies are expected to invest into India in increasing numbers, thanks to its vast user base.