India's gaming industry, led by enthusiasts from non-metro cities, is likely to grow to $9.2 billion from the current $3.8 billion by FY29, as per a report released on Monday.
Female gamers now comprise 44% of the nation's 591 million gaming population and 66% of gamers came from non-metro cities, of whom 43% belonged to the first-time earner category in the 18-30 age group.
Reports from Lumikai-one of the top interactive media and gaming VC funds-reveal that this has naturally attracted both venture capital interest and entrepreneurial talent to this space.
Average weekly time spent on gaming increased 30 percent to 13 hours, more than double the time spent on social platforms. India is now the world's second-largest mobile-gaming market, recording 15.2 billion downloads – three times that of Brazil and the US combined.
From a 30 per cent growth in average weekly gaming time to a sophisticated user base of 148 million paying users contributing to an average revenue per paying user or ARPPU of $22 or about Rs 1,800, the results attracted global attention and communicated market readiness for the next phase of growth, Salone Sehgal, Founding General Partner at Lumikai, added.
Eight million new paying users were added in FY24, taking total paying gamers to 148 million, according to the report that reviewed India's new media market worth $12.5 billion in FY24, with 30 per cent share accrued to the gaming sector.
In-app purchases, propelled by mid-core games, grew by 41 per cent year-on-year, and continues to be the fastest growing slice out of the $3.8 billion revenue pie for FY24.
The report stated that 64% of paying users of real-money gaming formats have paid for mid-core games, hence showing a high overlap in personas among gamers and migrating preferences of gamers.
About 25% of the gamers spent money in games, just like FY 23, and 83% preferred UPI or digital wallets for making in-game payments.
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