Gaming firms recommend self-declaration mechanism, graded KYC to MeitY

The ministry is also expected to release some guidelines to prevent a conflict of interest for the board of SRO soon

The stakeholders of the gaming industry recommended a self-declaration mechanism for registration and a graded approach to KYC in a meeting with the IT ministry on Tuesday, industry sources told Business Standard.

"The industry largely stated that powers given to the self-regulatory body will lead to significant delays to the launch of new games," an official aware of the development said.

The ministry is also expected to release some guidelines to prevent a conflict of interest for the board of SRO.

The developments were confirmed by companies.

"We suggested a simple process of registration that relies on self-declaration and collecting basic information about a company, similar to what is already proposed in the Intermediary Guidelines for the OTT. This self-certification process does not require an engagement with the SRO to wait for confirmation before the launch of the game," Paavan Nanda, co-founder of gaming platform WinZO told Business Standard.

Nanda added that the pre-registration process, which was proposed in the draft rules, might compromise the confidentiality of the information and lead to intellectual property (IP) leaks. The process may also lead to significant delays in launching the game.

"In case of any compromise, this would, in any event, be supplemented by the powers conferred on the self-regulatory body (SRO) to deal with grievance redressal, prevention of harm to children," he said. 

Trivikraman Thampy, co-founder and CEO of gaming platform Games24x7 said, "There could be a first pre-registration step that maybe has a slightly less stringent criterion and then within three months of pre-registration the operator has to get the final registration for the game". 

The industry also asked the ministry to take a graded approach to the proposed know-your-customer (KYC) process. They said that the users should be allowed to register on the platforms using a one-time password (OTP). If the spending goes above Rs 10,000, they must be asked to link their PAN and Aadhaar card with the account.

Largely, the industry welcomed the draft and the progress with regulating the sector.

"The meeting was fruitful, and we believe that both the government and industry have benefited from a clearer understanding of the future outlook for the gaming industry in light of the proposed rules. The framework offered by MeitY will go a long way towards creating a balanced environment for online gaming that provides for innovation within the confines of strong consumer protection standards,” said Roland Landers, CEO of All India Gaming Federation (AIGF).

Dilsher Malhi, founder and CEO of Zupee said, "We are confident the online gaming industry will greatly benefit from the proposed policy framework and will contribute significantly to the economic growth of India.”