IAMAI Welcomes India's New Online Gaming Rules

Eight months after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act (PROGA) received presidential assent in August 2025, India's gaming sector finally has the procedural rules to go with it. On April 22, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, with both the Act and the Rules set to come into force on May 1, 2026.

For an industry that has spent those eight months in legal limbo, watching major platforms suspend operations and waiting for clarity on enforcement, the notification marks the moment the law becomes operational. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) welcomed the notification. It said that the industry has "much-needed regulatory clarity, allowing the industry to operate, innovate, and rebuild with greater confidence."

IAMAI has Confidence in the Gaming Industry

IAMAI credited the consultative approach by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), noting that the incorporation of industry recommendations had produced a framework that is "implementable, future-ready, and aligned with the evolving nature of technology and digital platforms." The association said it would continue working with both the government and the industry on implementation.

The framework draws a clean line between esports and real-money gaming, and removes the mandatory pre-registration burden that had concerned developers of social and casual titles. What it does not yet resolve is how esports teams register as legal entities, how prize money is treated by banks, and where gamified features inside non-gaming apps sit within the three-category classification system. Those questions move from PROGA's drafting phase to OGAI's operating phase.

What Changed in PROGA’s Final Rules

The framework that emerged from roughly 2,500 stakeholder submissions is lighter than the October 2025 draft in several meaningful ways. Registration with the Online Gaming Authority of India (OGAI) is now optional for most non-monetary social games. 

IT Secretary S. Krishnan confirmed the intent at a PROGA press briefing, "Most games which aren't money games can function without any obligation, such as registration. That is optional." Esports registration remains mandatory for all titles based on thresholds tied to revenue and user base. More importantly, the certificate validity has been extended from five to ten years, giving studios and publishers a longer compliance window. 

Three provisions from the draft were removed entirely. The "material change" reporting requirement, which had obligated platforms to notify OGAI of any modification to game features or revenue models, was dropped. Provisions on user fund refunds were cut on the basis that the existing law already covers the matter. Game promotion clauses were removed and left to individual ministries to design independently.

IAMAI will continue working closely with the industry and the Government to facilitate the implementation of the new rules. It wants to ensure that the outcome of the changes is beneficial for both the Indian video games industry and its users.