In a major boost to Indian Esports and gaming industry, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Railways, Mr. Piyush Goyal declared open the Nations Cup (International Esports Championship ) to be held at Global Exhibition on Services 2019 in Bengaluru and unveiled the Trophy for Nations Cup during the curtain raiser event for GES 2019 held at ITC Maurya, New Delhi.

During his launch address to the audience including Mr. Jagdish Shettar – Hon’ble Minister of Large & Medium Scale Industries Government of Karnataka and Diplomats from various Embassies, he quoted “I was very delighted to hear the report which was shared in terms of the efforts to bring Animation & Esports into the country, this is the new age world that India needs to engage with.”

SEPC will be organizing Nations Cup (International Esports Championship) in association with Electronic Sports Federation of India (ESFI) during the Global Exhibition on Services which is being held from 26th-28th November 2019. The Nations Cup will be one of the key highlights during GES and this being held at such a high profile services event will open up multiple avenues for the services industry particularly esports, gaming, animation etc.

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The Nations Cup will have two legs. Day 1 will have the India Qualifiers & Day 2 onwards eight esports teams from different National Esports Federation representing respective countries will compete at the Nations Cup. Winner of India Qualifiers will represent India at the Nations Cup. Seven esports teams have been invited from different countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Korea etc. Winning Nation’s Esports Team will take home the “Nations Cup” Trophy.

Video Games Industry in India

India is emerging as a leader in Esports and video gaming, a growing field that has fascinated the interest of millennials like never before. The Indian digital gaming industry is growing rapidly due to smartphone penetration and cheap internet.

Currently, India stands at a global number 17 in the soon-to-be USD 1.5 billion video games industry. Estimated to be about $818 million, the Indian video games sector while vastly unstructured, is growing rapidly. The number of online gamers has increased from 20 million in 2010 to 250 million in 2018, whereas the number of game developing companies has grown from 25 in 2010 to 250 in 2018. India also won a bronze medal in Esports at the 2018 Asian Games.

