E-Sports In India To Get Government Recognition Soon

With 206 million gamers, 10 million serious gamers and 300 million E-Sports fans around the globe, E-Sports has, without a doubt, reached great heights. And with growing E-Sports athletes in India as well, it’s now time to make this sport a matter of national pride!  

Taking note of this and aiming for India to make a mark on the global level, Ronnie Screwvala (Founder U Sports) and Supratik Sen (CEO and Co-Founder U Sports),are in talks with the Ministry of State, Youth Affairs and Sports India to form the Official E-Sports Federation of India. The aim is to create a single internationally and nationally recognised body for India that will positively help shape the future of competitive gaming. The plan is to achieve this with the endorsement of the Honourable Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State, Youth Affairs and Sports India. 

Ronnie and Supratik’s vision is to mobilise the whole country towards E-Sports. Eventually form state bodies or charters to drive the agenda at the grassroot level. To see this through and start the process they would like to see Ronnie Screwvala helming the President chair/seat of the federation. This would be a start and be developed further over time with the sole interest of developing the landscape of E Sports in India. 

The Federation will work to be a governing body for all Indian E-Sports events and will promote the amicable relations among partner nations through the sport. Though at a preliminary stage, its intent will be to encourage, organize, educate, and train E-Sports athletes in India.  It will offer young E-athletes a boost and generate synergies with traditional sports.

In fact, the idea behind U Cypher, India’s first ever multi-platform multi-game E-Sports championship, was to give potential E-Sports athletes in India an opportunity to showcase their talent to the nation by taking it on television. The objective was to break the stereotype and change people’s perception about E-Sports being a professional discipline. The next step in this would be to the formation of the E-Sports Federation and having the top national talent play under the national flag or colours.

On taking this step, Ronnie Screwvala, Founder, U Sports, says, “We believe there is tremendous talent in India. By forming an official Federation, we want to provide E-Sports athletes the ratified government support they need to compete at global or international levels and to also evolve a structured and fair E-Sports competition. Now International markets like USA formally distinguishing E-Sports as an official sport and granting visas for professional E-sports players, and universities announcing Athletic Scholarships to E-sports players, India is not far away from recognising this sport and its players as a career option.”

“This sport is a global phenomenon and India is not far behind. We have the talent, and the passion and with an official body, these athletes will only get encouraged to showcase their talent. We at U Cypher want to position E-Sports as full-time sport and career opportunity and though it's at the very initial stage, this Federation will help widen the player base. And allow people to see the bigger picture of the sport”, adds Supratik Sen, Co-founder and CEO, U Sports.

E-Sports is officially announced as an exhibition sport in the 2018 Asian Games and being listed in the 2022 Asian Games in China.