India today officially launched the much-anticipated India Gaming Report 2025, a landmark study jointly developed by WinZO and the Interactive Entertainment and Innovation Council (IEIC), projecting India’s gaming sector to reach a staggering USD 60 billion market size by 2034. With a current valuation of USD 3.7 billion (2024) and a projected CAGR of 19.6% (FY24–29E), India’s gaming industry is on a high- growth trajectory, expected to cross USD 9.1 billion by 2029. The sector is home to 1,888 gaming companies, employs over 130,000 people, and boasts a user base of ~600 million, set to rise to ~952 million by 2029.Notably, the report highlights that over 90% of the ~USD 3 billion FDI attracted by India’s gaming sector to date has been directed towards the Pay-to-Play (Real Money Gaming) segment. Pay-to-Play is an Indian innovation—a microtransaction-based monetization model built on the success of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI)—and has proven pivotal in making the gaming sector financially viable. Traditional monetization models, such as in-app purchases and advertising, have seen limited scalability in the Indian market relative to the scale of gaming content consumption. Pay-to-Play emerged as a uniquely Indian innovation that bridged this monetization gap, offering a sustainable model that fueled sector viability, attracted global investments, and accelerated the rise of Indian gaming companies both domestically and internationally. Gaming today accounts for 29.6% of India’s New Media market (USD 12.5 billion), outsizing OTT, audio, animation, and social media. Globally, the USD 300 billion gaming industry already surpasses the combined movie and music sectors. The Report draws attention to countries like Finland, Israel, and Turkey, which, despite their small populations, derive over 90% of gaming revenues through exports. India, with its vast domestic market and rising global competitiveness, stands at a unique inflection point — offering the potential to build a dual engine of domestic consumption and global exports, embedding Indian gaming IP into the world’s digital onomy.”Under the dynamic leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, India is poised t lead the next frontier of digital innovation. Gaming will be central to realizing India’s USD 1 trillion digital economy vision,” said Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in The Report also reinforces that regulatory clarity supporting innovation and supportive taxation policies will be Ccritical for the sector’s next leap and unlock. With the right regulatory framework, Indian gaming companies could unlock unprecedented investor returns by accessing public markets, attracting FDI across sectors in India. Based on valuation benchmarks of India’s first and only publicly listed gaming company, Nazara Technologies, the sector could achieve a Market Cap/Revenue multiple capable of unlocking USD 26 billion in investor value within three years through IPOs of mature companies in the sector. Nazara commands one of the highest premiums among globally listed gaming companies, underscoring the market’s confidence in India’s gaming potential.his Foreword to the Report.