India's gaming industry to add 1 lakh new jobs by FY-23: Report

The gaming sector in India slated to grow by 20%-30% and is expected to add 1 lakh direct and indirect new jobs by FY-23, according to a new report by staffing firm, TeamLease Digital.

The report titled: “Gaming: Tomorrow’s Blockbuster” said that currently, the sector directly employs about 50,000 people of which 30% of the workforce are programmers and developers. 

Over the next year, the sector will add new jobs across domains like programming (game developers, unity developers), testing (games test engineering, quality and assurance or QA lead), animation (animators), design (motion graphic designers, virtual reality designers), artist (visual effects or VFX and concept artists) and other miscellaneous roles (content writers, gaming journalists, web analyst).

From a salary perspective, the highest paying profiles in the gaming industry include game producers (₹10 LPA), game designers (₹6.5 LPA), software engineers (₹5.5 LPA), game developers (₹5.25 LPA) and QA testers (₹5.11 LPA), the report said

“Despite facing hurdles owing to frequent regulatory changes, the gaming industry is expected to create 1 lakh jobs by FY23 and grow 2.5x by 2026,” said Sunil Chemmankotil, chief executive officer, Teamlease Digital, said, adding that the gaming industry is the “next sunrise industry due to its increasing user base and the opportunities that this industry is set to offer”.

Munira Loliwala, Business Head-Specialised Staffing, TeamLease Digital, highlights the growth prospectus of the industry, stating, “We are at the cusp of exponential growth in the sector. This industry is on the trajectory to grow by 20%-30% by FY 23 and is expected to reach Rs. 38,097 crores by 2026. With a 480 million strong gaming community, India is second largest globally, after China.

To address this growth, employment in the sector is going to significantly increase, said the report. “Today, we have a 90% millennials and Gen-Z workforce and the majority of these professionals are aspiring to work in emerging sectors like gaming. By FY 23, close to 1 lakh new jobs will be created in the sector and this is further projected to increase by 50% taking the Industry overall growth trajectory to more than 113% by 2025,” Loliwala said.

The report further highlights the educational qualifications and skill competencies that employers look out for. Candidates seeking to work in the gaming industry are expected to have qualifications ranging from BCA in Software and Diploma in 3D, 2D, Animation and VFX to M.Tech/B.Tech in IT and Diploma in specialized languages like C++, Java and DevOps.

“With the confluence of Web3 and Metaverse, gamification is not just restricted to traditional gaming avenues but has extended to other emerging tech sectors like e-commerce, fintech and education etc. Over the next few years, aided by the sturdy growth in the sector, we will see a catapult impact on employment as well,” added Loliwala.

The report also indicates that to drive the growth vision, investments in the sectors will continue to grow. Currently, in terms of revenue, India is placed sixth on the world’s biggest gaming market index (global market revenue approximately at ₹17,24,800 crore). The sector is expected to attract FDI to the tune of ₹780 crore by end of March 2023. Additionally, stakeholders across the industry are also working to bring refined policies to govern the ecosystem.

A separate report released on 2 November, by gaming-focused venture capital fund Lumikai, said that India’s gaming industry is expected to almost quadruple to $8.6 billion by 2027 from $2.6 billion.

“Industry growth is expected to be fuelled by a rapidly increasing gamer base, higher conversion to paid users, and increasing sophistication of Indian gamers,” Justin Shriram Keeling, founding general partner, Lumikai, said in a statement.

Teamlease also said that with increasing participation of women in the gaming industry of more than 40%, there will be a significant rise in women workforce, with more women occupying leadership roles in this sector.