Business
Righteous GST implementation to bolster online skill gaming sector in India
With the GST Council expected to meet soon, there has been a lot of conversation around GST restructuring, rate rationalisations, for and against views around minimum thresholds and more. Online skill gaming sector, one of the recognised sunrise sectors which has of late seen a lot of positive feedback from the Centre, has also been waiting to hear on GST for many distinct reasons.
The online skill gaming industry has been on an upward trajectory for the last 4-5 years and the pandemic put this industry growing at the rate of 38 per cent CAGR into the spotlight.
As per a recent BCG report, this sunrise sector in India has gained significant momentum with excellent Internet service providers, penetration of the use of mobiles across social and demographic barriers and India’s enthusiasm to adopt and adapt to the online gaming platforms.
India’s share is currently at 1-2 per cent of the global gaming market with a market size of $1.8 billion of which Real-Money gaming has the largest constituent of revenue pool driven by higher user paying propensity (around 20 per cent of total market size). The total number of users of gaming services are close to 433 million and is expected to touch 650 million by 2025. However, apart from fine-tuning the regulatory mechanism, there’s an urgent need to look at the GST levied on the sector.
Last year on May 24 a Group of Ministers (GoM) formed by the GST council to examine the taxation regime applicable to online gaming was seen as a progressive move, the industry hopes to see a stable and clear taxation regime. However, the committee was dissolved and a new one was formed earlier in February 2022.
Currently, services provided by online skill gaming platforms are classified under service accounting code 998439 of the GST services classification and through this attracts a rate of 18 per cent on the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) for the service provider whereas, the games of chance (including gambling, casinos and more) are subjected to 28 per cent GST.
The industry operators believe that the legislative view as proven by the jurisprudence in the country multiple times, clearly differentiates games of skill from games of chance and so the taxation levied should continue to take into account this differentiation. Furthermore, international practices related to taxes on gaming have proven that tax-rate shouldn’t exceed 20 per cent. Some of the developed economies like the UK, the US (Pennsylvania), Singapore have tax rate of GGR 15 per cent, 14 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. A report by Copenhagen Economics (one of the leading economics firms in Europe) also concludes that a tax rate in the range of 15 per cent to 20 per cent of GGR produces the most favourable outcomes for both operators and tax revenue.
Malay Kumar Shukla, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Games24x7 says, “The international experience relating to taxation of gaming in the context of the platform-fee/GGR based gaming models has clearly shown the downside of excessive taxation. The GGR-based gaming platforms can only absorb an optimal range of taxation which is in the range of 15 per cent to 20 per cent of GGR. Higher tax incidence of tax is bound to alter player and compliance behaviour and will neither work in the benefit of the gaming industry nor the government. Therefore, the interpretation taken by the ‘games of skill’ industry in India to be taxed on Gross Gaming Revenue is supported by the legal provisions of GST law and is also in line with most international practices relating to taxation of gaming platforms.”
At a time when the country has seen positive tax policies for some of the other identified sunrise sectors like biotechnology, chemical and renewable energy; it is only legitimate for this fastest growing tech industry within the M&E sector, to demand for a GST regime that can protect and promote the segment.
Business
Adani Ports to start dedicated empty container yard operations at Mundra to boost efficiency

Ahmedabad, Sep 4: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Friday said it is launching a dedicated Empty Container Yard (ECY) with integrated warehousing at Mundra, offering end-to-end services across the empty container lifecycle, including storage, maintenance, inspection, and seamless movement to exporters and CFSs (container freight stations).
As part of its ‘Ambition 2031’ roadmap, APSEZ is making significant investments to expand capacity across its network, with Mundra at the forefront of this growth.
India’s largest integrated transport operator plans to add more than 6 million TEUs of container handling capacity over the next five years, said the Adani Group company.
“The dedicated Empty Container Yard at Mundra, to be operated by APSEZ and/or partners (including CFS and shipping lines), will enhance efficiency across the container ecosystem by enabling faster turnaround times, reducing unnecessary container movements, and optimising logistics costs,” said Ashwani Gupta, Whole-time Director and Chief Executive Officer, APSEZ.
Strengthening trade-enabling infrastructure remains central to APSEZ’s commitment towards supporting India’s growth and the vision of Viksit Bharat, Gupta added.
Adani Ports commands a 45.5 per cent share of India’s container market as of FY26. Within this, Mundra Port alone handles nearly 35 per cent of the country’s container trade, making it India’s largest container-handling port.
The volume of empty containers handled at Mundra is estimated at around 1.6 million TEUs annually, underscoring its critical role in supporting India’s import-export supply chains, said the company.
Moreover, the initiative aligns with the government’s focus on developing efficient, technology-enabled logistics systems and improving ease of doing business.
Adani Ports operates a comprehensive ecosystem of 16 strategically located ports and terminals with a diversified marine fleet of 136 vessels and integrated logistics capabilities.
With a current cargo handling capacity of 653 million tonnes per annum, APSEZ commands approximately 27 per cent of India’s total port volumes, targeting 1 billion tonnes throughput by 2030.
Business
Sensex, Nifty post notable gains in early trade led by IT stocks

Mumbai, Sep 4: The Indian equity markets posted notable gains early on Friday driven by gains in IT stocks and positive data on the domestic economy.
Sensex added 515 points, or 0.68 per cent, in early trade to reach 76,668 and Nifty gained 51 points, or 0.22 per cent to reach 23,925.
Main broad-cap indices performed in line with the benchmark indices, as the Nifty Midcap 100 added 0.03 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.49 per cent.
Sectoral indices on NSE traded mixed with Nifty consumer durables posting the highest losses, down 0.50 per cent. Nifty IT was the top gainer, up 0.65 per cent, followed by realty, up 0.50 per cent.
“Rising bond yields are negative for equity markets. The US 10-year yield continues to hover around 4.8 percent. In Japan the 10-year yield is at a 30-year high of 3 per cent. In the UK, the 30-year yield is at 6 per cent. In India, too, the 10-year yield is close to 7 per cent,” an analyst said.
“However, these negative factors are being countered by the positive news about the Indian economy. Particularly impressive are the ongoing high frequency data regarding GST collections, automobile sales and credit growth,” the market expert added.
Brent crude remains elevated near $96–97, keeping geopolitical risks around the US–Iran conflict a key factor for market sentiment.
“Global sentiment has improved as Wall Street closed higher and Asian markets are largely positive, while US Treasury yields have eased,” an analyst said.
The immediate support for Nifty is placed at 23,800–23,850 zone, while resistance is seen at 24,050–24,100.
Immediate support is placed at 57,000–57,200 for Bank Nifty, while resistance is seen at 57,800–58,000, a market participant said.
In Asian markets, China’s Shanghai index gained 0.35 per cent, and Shenzhen added 0.27 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei added 1.14 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 2.09 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.31 per cent.
The US markets ended in green overnight as Nasdaq gained 1.4 per cent. The S&P 500 added 1.06 per cent, and the Dow Jones advanced 1.18 per cent.
On September 3, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold equities worth Rs 2,346 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 4,977 crore.
Business
Why Nvidia chief Jensen Huang is not ready to retire?

Chapel Hill (North Carolina), Sep 3: Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang says he does not need to keep working.
He simply cannot bear the thought of missing what artificial intelligence (AI) could deliver over the next decade.
“I’ve been working a long time and Surely I don’t have to work, but I don’t want to miss, I’m definitely not going to miss the next 10, 15 years,” Huang said during a fireside chat with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
For Huang, the appeal lies not only in the technology but also in the scale of the ambitions it has unleashed.
“The ambition of the industry, the ambition of my colleagues, my own ambition has really been supercharged,” he said.
Huang offered a buoyant vision of an AI-powered future in which work that once took a decade could be completed in a year, while year-long projects could be finished within a month.
“What do I expect in the next five, ten years? Things that take ten years are going to take one. Things that take one will take a month,” he added.
The Nvidia Chief said that artificial intelligence was giving ordinary people, companies and countries the ability to tackle problems on a scale previously considered unimaginable.
“It is now possible for average humans like ourselves to think that we can make an impact on a hundred trillion dollar industry,” Huang added.
He said that innovators were talking about adding between $20 trillion and $50 trillion in economic benefits worldwide.
Such ideas, he added, reflected a new level of ambition made possible by access to AI.
“No time in history have we been able to say things like that,” he said.
Huang encouraged countries to approach the technology with optimism and raise their ambitions rather than allow uncertainty to dominate the public conversation.
“This is the time when you have to feel enlightened, inspired, supercharged, lifted, because you now have this incredible technology behind you,” he said.
He compared the development of AI with earlier technological advances that initially appeared almost magical.
“Electricity once made it possible to turn on a light from far away, while modern cars and aircraft became safer as their technology improved.”
AI, Huang said, would similarly advance through engineering, mathematics, software and responsible development.
He rejected predictions that the technology would simply remove human workers.
AI would automate certain skills and tasks, he said, but people would retain the purpose, context and meaning that define their jobs.
Huang also described AI as a great equaliser because people could now communicate with computers through ordinary human language.
Lutnick picked up that theme, suggesting that the technology could place advanced knowledge within everyone’s reach.
“You now can have… A PhD in everything. That’s right. At your fingertips,” Lutnick said.
“You are that person now. Right? Everybody is that person now,” Huang responded.
Lutnick praised Huang’s optimistic assessment and called him “an American treasure”, saying Nvidia was leading the United States towards a future once confined largely to science fiction.
“Your company is leading us in a path that none of us, when we were young, ever dreamed possible,” the US Commerce Secretary said.
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has served as its President and Chief Executive since its inception.
The company began as a specialist in graphics technology before its processors became vital to the development and operation of modern artificial intelligence systems.
Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to the United States as a child and studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and Stanford University.
Under his leadership, Nvidia has grown into one of the world’s most valuable technology companies.
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