Indian Gamers Are No Longer Just Students: Study Finds Surge in Women and Working Professionals
Titled 'How India Games', the report draws on responses from over 5,900 gamers across the country, providing one of the most detailed portraits of the Indian gaming community to date. It comes amid rapid growth in the sector — a recent WinZO–IEIC report projected India's gaming market to more than double to $9.1 billion by 2029.
Among the key insights:
India's gaming population is growing at an annual rate of 16%.
While 94% of gamers are still men, women above the age of 35 are entering the space in large numbers.
73% of female gamers admitted to concealing their gender online, citing experiences of harassment — yet many are leading and building new communities.
Mobile phones remain the dominant gaming device for 88% of players, even among multi-platform users.
Over half of all gamers express an active interest in creating content or joining the esports industry, suggesting growing ambitions around gaming careers.
Interestingly, while most Indian parents still consider gaming a 'waste of time,' around 10% have begun playing alongside their children, suggesting a generational softening of attitudes.
'Gaming was an escape for me growing up,' said Ishan Sukul, Co-founder and CEO of Kreo. 'Today, it's how millions of Indians connect and express themselves. Through this report, we wanted to understand gaming not just as a hobby, but as a response to deeper cultural shifts — including loneliness and mental health.' (eom)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Visual telematics startup Cautio closes $3 million funding round
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Bengaluru-based visual telematics startup Cautio has raised $1.8 million in a fresh funding round led by Amal Parikh, founder of Ohm Stock round also saw participation from existing investors 8i Ventures and AU Small Finance Bank , besides other April this year, the company had raised $1.2 million as part of the same round, and this extension takes the total funds raised in the seed funding round to $3 in 2023, Cautio offers cost-effective video telematics products and tailored solutions aimed at mitigating road safety issues, including women's safety, improving driver conduct and accountability, and more.'About 50% of our new funding is going to be invested towards R&D technology and identifying better hardware, enhancing the AI software, and scaling up the presence,' said Ankit Acharya, cofounder and chief executive.'This fresh investment allows us to strengthen our technology, grow our team, and expand our deployment footprint to ensure road safety becomes the norm, not the exception,' said Pranjal Nadhani, cofounder and uses customisable dash cam devices and an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered operating system for its road safety solutions . 'We have spent a lot of time and effort to get the dash cam devices designed in such a way that they understand Indian road conditions and Indian drivers,' Acharya told Cautio has a ground presence in 50 cities in India through its customers, which include ride-hailing companies, ambulances, educational institutions, passenger vehicles, and fleet vehicles.'Combining AI with infrastructure, they (Cautio founders) are taking a practical yet innovative approach. This is where Dalal Street's discipline meets Innovation Street's disruption. Excited to partner with them in their mission to make Indian roads safer,' Amal Parikh said in a prepared was founded by Acharya, a former senior executive at ride-hailing firm Namma Yatri, and Pranjal Nadhani, a former senior engineer at Dream11 and Urban July 2024, Cautio had raised Rs 6.5 crore (a little over $700K) in a pre-seed funding round led by Antler, 8i Ventures, and AU Small Finance Bank. The recent funding brings the total amount raised by the company to over $3.6 million.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Gulshan Grover reveals no girl used to come close to him due to his ‘bad man' image on screen: ‘Jab social media aaya…'
Bollywood actor Gulshan Grover is popularly known for his villainous roles in Bollywood films. The actor recently visited Archana Puran Singh and Parmeet Sethi's house for a friendly conversation and some lunch for their vlog. During the vlog, Gulshan opened up about how women were scared to come close to him because of his villainous image on screen. Gulshan Grover on how his villainous roles affected his personality in real life. Gulshan Grover on girls running away from him When Parmeet asked Gulshan if girls used to stay away from him because of his on-screen personality, Gulshan agreed and said, "Jab tak social media nahi aaya tha, toh koi ladki pass nahi aati thi because unhe lagta tha jo screen par dekha tha vohi personality has iss aadmi ki (Until social media came around, no girl would come near me because they thought my real personality was exactly like what they saw on screen)." He added, "Aur jab social media aaya aur when I entered a party, hugged Archana, another heroine saw it and pehle toh unko a Vishwas hua ki film toh bhaag rahi thi aur yahan gale mil rahi hai, yeh kya nonsense hai. Then slowly slowly people understood that he is just doing a role (But when social media arrived and I entered a party and hugged Archana, another heroine saw it and at first, she couldn't believe it — she thought, 'The film showed them fighting, and here they are hugging? What nonsense is this?' Then slowly, people started to understand that I was just playing a role)." Gulshan Grover's upcoming movie Gulshan Grover, famously known as Bollywood's 'Bad Man', has cemented his place as one of Indian cinema's most iconic villains. With his commanding screen presence and unforgettable style, Grover redefined the image of the Bollywood antagonist. His portrayal of the flamboyant 'Bad Man' in Ram Lakhan became a cultural phenomenon, earning him the moniker that would follow him throughout his career. He went on to deliver memorable villainous performances in films like Mohra, Sir, Hera Pheri, and Duplicate. Gulshan will next be seen in the movie Heer Express, directed by Umesh Shukla. Backed by Umesh Shukla, Ashish Wagh, Mohit Chhabra, and Sanjay Grover, the film stars Divita Juneja in her first film role, alongside Ashutosh Rana, Sanjay Mishra, Gulshan Grover, and Prit Kamani in key roles. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on September 12.
Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Data centre industry wary of proposed certification scheme
Agencies The data centre industry has come out against the government's plans to introduce India-specific guidelines for certifying data centres and standardising many of their functions, saying the move is duplicative and unaligned with international norms. The draft data centre certification scheme, proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), risks creating a major dual compliance burden for operators, hindering both domestic and global market participation, IT and tech industry body Nasscom said in its feedback to the government. Data centre operators fear the move doesn't recognise the pace of technological change, or diversity in the sector. Developed by MeitY's Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate, the proposed certification framework seeks to establish standards for data centre operations and maintenance across the country. Considering STQC – an attached office of the MeitY – already audits government-empanelled Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), Nasscom has questioned the incremental value of the proposed scheme. Instead, it has suggested a tiered, risk-based assessment that identifies only incremental compliance for those already adhering to global and MeitY standards. 'Additional requirements should be context-specific, and the certification must be explicitly voluntary,' it told the maintains national and international accreditations in the IT field by providing testing, calibration, certification and e-governance services through a nationwide chain of labs. Indian operators already operate with global certifications like Uptime/TIA942, said Sunil Gupta, cofounder, managing director and CEO of Yotta Data Services, a cloud infrastructure and data centre services can be used as baseline by the government for framing additional guidelines for facilities hosting government data, he said.'Additional guidelines for green energy adoption, physical and logical security including telemetry or Internet of Things data for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment can be framed by the government,' Gupta government can also mandate the adoption of Make in India components, availability of sovereign cloud and managed services, and decide whether ultimate ownership of the data centre lies with Indian or foreign citizens or entities, he the policy should have differential expectations from centres with different purposes, he pointed out the draft scheme proposes a uniform approach to all data centres, failing to recognise diverse business models like enterprise, co-location, and large some countries have introduced standards for data centres with a specific local gap in mind, such as Japan's standard for earthquake risk, Nasscom noted jurisdictions rarely introduce exclusive, comprehensive certification schemes beyond existing global standards. Some industry officials noted a central policy can help streamline data centre policies across states. 'In India, every state has a different data centre policy, mandating different building and power regulations, and a lot of time goes in understanding and comparing them,' said Sureshkumar Rathod, president, colocation business, at data centre operator CtrlS.A data centre 'should be built in a year, but in India, it takes a minimum of three and a half to four years,' he said. 'This problem of having to invest without any outcome for a long time is a big one.'Rathod said countries such as Malaysia and Thailand promote data centres as one industry across of July, India has 153 data centres, according to industry sector is poised for explosive growth, with capacity projected to surge 77% by 2027, reaching a staggering 1.8 GW, global real estate services firm JLL said in a report in expansion comes on the heels of the industry surpassing the 1 GW milestone in 2024, growing at a compounded annual rate of 24% since 2019. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Berlin to Bharuch: The Borosil journey after the China hit in Europe FIIs are exiting while retail investors stay put. Will a costly market make them pay? BlackRock returns, this time with Ambani. Will it be lucky second time? Paid less than plumbers? The real story of freshers' salaries at Infy, TCS. Stock Radar: Down 27% from highs! Hero MotoCorp stock shows signs of momentum after breaking out from 11-week consolidation For those prepared for the long game: 5 mid-cap stocks from different sectors with an upside potential of 14 to 33% in one year Financial services: Time to look at a new set for the next cycle? 5 stocks from the financial services space with upside potential of up to 37% These 8 banking stocks can give more than 29% returns in 1 year, according to analysts
