Ever since Reliance Jio launched a data first telecom operator in India to offer affordable data plans in India in 2016, the telecom revolution has helped tens of millions of new internet users come online. Currently, India has the second largest base of internet users in the whole world, behind China and the growth has been unprecedented. India is currently the leader in mobile data usage and provider of the cheapest data in the whole world.
Just like the launch of Jio, there’s another push in the internet traffic in the last few weeks, much because of the extended nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. Since the first lockdown was announced in India on 22nd March, the majority of Indians have found a new interest, online gaming.
According to a report by Livemint, internet traffic in India was up 30% during the first 15 days of the lockdown. In some cities, it was even more than 50%. This is the same amount of growth that the companies have recorded in almost one year before the lockdown. While a subsequent amount of people are online because of work, education and to stay connected with family and friends, there has been a huge increase in the number of people playing online games including poker, rummy etc. Online Casinos in India have also seen a huge traffic boost to their platforms, thanks to the lockdown.
The online gaming market in India has been steadily growing for the last few years. According to an estimate, there are over 600 million online gamers in India as of today and the industry is worth over 700 million USD.
One of the biggest positives about the gaming industry in India is that most of the internet users are mobile first users and the gaming companies target just that. The Indian market has been the highest grosser in last few years. According to a KPMG report, Indian gaming market was only worth $29 million in 2016, but the unprecedented growth has put it on the way to touch $1 billion mark in 2021. The cut throat competition in both, the smartphone and telecom market has ensured that indians have access to affordable quality smartphones and affordable data plans. Most of the online games do not require any monetary transaction to sign up, however, the revenue comes through in app purchases, subscriptions, pay per download and in app advertising.