INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Shivalik Chandan, Hardik Choudhary, Dhruv Singh and Arjun Khurana, G&W Legal
with applicable laws. The E-Gaming Federa - tion is an independent non-profit organisation, which also offers standards for the online gam - ing industry. Key Challenges Despite the IT Rules 2021 providing clarity and regulation for online gaming, regulatory uncer - tainty persists due to the divergence between central and state laws. Another challenge is the classification of games as games of skill or games of chance, which varies across states. For example, games like rummy and fantasy sports are often classified as games of skill, but not uniformly across all states. Taxation is another contentious issue. In 2023, the Indian government imposed a 28% GST on online gaming. Subsequently, many online gaming intermediaries have received notices demanding the 28% tax on a retrospective basis. This matter is currently sub judice before the Supreme Court of India, which has granted an interim stay on the tax notices. 9.2 Regulatory Bodies MeitY is the primary agency overseeing the online gaming industry at the national level. Oth - er central agencies, such as the CCI, CERT-In, tax authorities, and others, regulate their respec - tive areas concerning online games. Individual state governments and their departments also exercise regulatory powers based on state laws. These bodies have enforcement powers rang - ing from approvals, regulation formulation, and investigations to imposing penalties or bans. In January 2025, to combat offshore tax eva - sion, the Indian government appointed a nodal officer with the authority to remove online gam - ing websites not registered under the applicable tax laws. Once the DPDPA is in force, the Data
Protection Board (DPB) will become the nodal agency for digital personal data regulation and compliance with the DPDPA’s requirements. Enforcement Examples The retrospective GST notices mentioned in 9.1 Regulations are one example of regulatory action. Additionally, in November 2024, the CCI initiated a probe into Google’s policy on online real money gaming on its Google Play platform. This was based on a complaint by the online gaming company WinZO, alleging discriminatory practices by Google. 9.3 Intellectual Property Given the multifaceted nature of online games and the evolving digital landscape, game devel - opers may encounter issues related to piracy, copyright protection of intellectual property in virtual environments, trade mark issues con - cerning game titles and logos, and domain name disputes. Developers can seek copyright and trade mark protection for various aspects of their online games. The identification and correct classification of copyrightable work is crucial for the creators of digital and virtual assets. Copyrightable materials can include literary, artistic and cinematograph - ic works, among others. Trade mark protection also extends to virtual goods and services. In addition to brand protection, the Indian authori - ties have started granting trade mark protections for NFTs and digital assets in the metaverse and similar domains. Cybersquatting and domain name disputes are also pertinent in the gaming industry from an IP perspective. User-generated content in online games can lead to IP issues, including third-party infringe - ment. Companies must take active measures to ensure that third-party IP is not infringed, and to
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