iWorld
“Streaming allows every story to find its own audience”: Sushant Sreeram
Mumbai: Prime Video, India’s most loved entertainment destination, participated in an insightful OTT roundtable session on ‘What’s the secret ingredient that gives Indian content its global appeal?’ at Film Bazaar at the ongoing 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. Sushant Sreeram, country director, Prime Video, India joined the conversation that was moderated by Rajeev Masand, COO at Dharma Cornerstone (DCA). The panel also featured Prithul Kumar, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Managing Director, NFDC, as one of the co-panelists, along with other eminent leaders from the industry.
“I believe we are very close to having that definitive breakout hit internationally because the signs are all there when you see your stories travel so brilliantly,” shared Prime Video, India country director Sushant Sreeram talking about when India will have its own breakout moment on the international stage. He also spoke about the need for authentic local storytelling; these are stories that resonate with local audiences and then become breakout hits across the country with audiences outside the country eventually discovering and loving these rooted narratives, giving examples of Pushpa: The Rise and Kantara. He underscored that 50% viewership of Prime Video’s local language content comes from outside the home states, while 25% audience of Indian titles comes from outside India. Continuing in the vein he said, “I think our storytelling has gotten incredibly rich. We have creators, studios and talent imagining a world of great storytelling, and with streaming providing the reach for every story to find its own audience, we are already breaking out internationally.” He cited examples of Prime Video’s Original series like Farzi, Jubilee and Made in Heaven that were loved not just within the country but also outside. While Farzi was streamed by viewers in 170 countries and territories just over the launch weekend and entered the top 10 trending titles lists on Prime Video in multiple countries beyond India, including the U.S., UK, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, Made in Heaven in its launch weekend it entered the top 10 trending titles lists on Prime Video in over 20 countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. Jubilee has been on a winning spree at every award show, including the Best Series award at the International Film Festival of Melbourne.
Responding to a question on independent, low budget or experimental filmmakers not finding a home for their films, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Joint Secretary (Films) and NFDC MD Prithul Kumar elaborated that just a few years ago, when streaming services did not exist, an independent filmmaker would have found it tough to go to an exhibitor and even conceptualize distributing their films. However, he added, streaming services have enabled such films and filmmakers finding a home for their films on OTT.
Elucidating further on this point, he added that streaming services have helped content producers dream big, even if they have smaller budgets, something that they were unable to do in the pre-streaming era. He highlighted that from the government’s perspective, the sector is doing fairly well and getting investments into India.
Responding to the question whether streaming is becoming the domain of big-budget star vehicles exclusively, Sushant cited Prime Video’s content slate released in 2023, emphasizing the diversity of titles and talent, from Farzi and Jee Karda to Happy Family Conditions Apply to docuseries like Cinema Marte Dum Tak, Dancing on The Grave, among others, emphasizing that the diversity made for interesting storytelling. He added, “Many of the shows that we have launched this year and over the past 7 years have been with new upcoming creators. We have over 100 projects in various stages of production and development. While we will continue to bring back the successful franchises – Mirzapur, The Family Man, Pataal Lok, our conscious effort has been to ensure that we also continue to work with new and upcoming creators.” He also spoke about streaming not only providing access to content, or expanding the linguistic palette for customers, but it also acting as a window into many cultures.
While discussing the impact of the direct-to-streaming (DTS) model on the overall creative ecosystem, as well as on the customers Sushant said, “Our approach has been pretty straightforward, if it is a good story that we think we ought to bring to customers, in over 240 countries and territories, we find a way to make it work. DTS is a part of our repertoire of being able to bring stories to customers”. He elaborated how Prime Video has not just pioneered the DTS model, but also produces Original movies like Maja Ma, Ammu, and the upcoming Ae Watan Mere Watan, and co-productions like Ram Setu, Neeyat, the upcoming Yodha as well, which premiere first in theatres before coming on the service. “We actually started off with the DTS approach in India during the pandemic and in over 3-4 years, we have had over 60 DTS releases,” he added, “I believe that direct-to-streaming has been a win-win for customers globally, as well as for the creators to be able to think untethered of the distribution.”
Making a point on the longevity of streaming content, Sushant said, “It’s an incredibly diverse landscape of entertainment. There is no one language, genre, or one type of customer. We had that epic realization very early on. Our programming across 10 languages, across a very diverse state of genres, for very different customer types, keeps us rooted in the reality.” Giving example of the longevity of a show, he spoke of Mirzapur, Pataal Lok, The Family Man, Made in Heaven. He said, “If you look back to 2018-19, Mirzapur was this show that that nobody had heard of. Now we get to call it a culture defining show, but back then it was just a story well told. I think if we back the right creators and honest storytelling, then the shows go on to become these large culture-defining moments. Today, 6 of 10 shows on IMDb’s list of highest rated Indian streaming shows are from Prime Video.”
Prime Video’s participation at IFFI is a testament of the pivotal role video streaming sector is playing in enabling the growth of India’s creative economy, and acting as a robust platform to showcase Indian stories, talent, and creators in the global arena.
Over the years, IFFI has established itself as a melting pot of myriad rich cultures and cinematic excellence, as it brings the world’s most outstanding films and shows, as well as stellar creators, talent, and storytellers together under one roof. As one of Asia’s oldest film festivals, it celebrates the rich cinematic excellence, creativity, and innovation that embodies the rich and vast entertainment ecosystem within India and from around the world.
Gaming
India’s new online gaming rules take effect today, banning money games and creating a regulator
The rules, in force from today, separate e-sports from gambling and impose jail terms and stiff fines on violators
NEW DELHI: India’s online gaming sector woke up this morning to a new reality. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, came into force today, May 1st, turning a year of legislative intent into enforceable law. The message from New Delhi is blunt: e-sports and social games are welcome; online money games are not.
The rules operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025. Together, they represent the most sweeping regulatory intervention India has made in its booming digital gaming market, one that generated Rs 23,200 crore in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11 per cent to reach Rs 31,600 crore by 2027. The stakes, in every sense, could not be higher.
A sector out of control
The urgency behind the legislation is not hard to find. An estimated 45 crore Indians have been affected by online money gaming platforms, with losses exceeding Rs 20,000 crore. Addiction, financial ruin, money laundering, and suicides have all been linked to the sector. Seventy-seven per cent of the market’s revenues came from transaction-based games, a figure that made regulators deeply uneasy.
The government’s response, effective as of today, is categorical. Online money games, whether based on chance, skill, or any mix of the two, are banned outright. So is their advertising, promotion, and facilitation. Banks and payment processors are barred from handling related transactions. Unlawful platforms can be blocked under the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
The penalties are designed to sting. Offering or facilitating online money games can attract up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore, or both. Repeat offenders face a minimum of three years, extendable to five, with fines between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore. Advertising such games carries up to two years in prison and fines of up to Rs 50 lakh, with repeat violations attracting higher penalties still. Cyber cell officers at state and union territory levels, including at police station, district, and commissionerate levels, are empowered to investigate offences.
The new sheriff in town
At the centre of the new framework sits the Online Gaming Authority of India, a digital-first regulator constituted as an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, headquartered in Delhi. It is chaired by the additional secretary of MeitY and includes joint secretary-level representation from home affairs, finance, information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports, and law and justice, a deliberately multi-sectoral design built for a complex sector.
The authority’s powers are broad. It will maintain and publish lists of online money games, investigate complaints, issue directions, orders, and codes of practice, hear appeals on user grievances, and coordinate with financial institutions and law enforcement to ensure effective and timely action.
Its decisions on game classification are to be completed within 90 days, a time-bound commitment that industry players have welcomed after years of regulatory ambiguity. Classification can be triggered by the authority acting on its own initiative, by an application from a service provider, or by a notification from the central government. Games will be assessed on objective factors: whether stakes are involved, whether players expect monetary winnings, the revenue model, and whether in-game assets can be monetised outside the game. The outcome is recorded in a determination order specific to the game and provider.
E-sports gets its moment
While the crackdown on money gaming dominates today’s headlines, the rules also carve out a structured path for e-sports and online social games. Registration, required when notified by the central government, applies to all games offered as e-sports and is based on factors including risk to users, scale, financial transactions, and country of origin. A successful application yields a digital certificate of registration with a unique number, valid for up to ten years. Service providers must display registration details, designate a point of contact, comply with data retention requirements, and follow directions on facilitating payments.
Online money games are explicitly ineligible for recognition or registration as e-sports under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. The separation is deliberate, and the industry has noticed.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, called today’s operationalisation “encouraging,” pointing to publisher-led registration of esports titles and a time-bound determination process as creating “much-needed certainty for all stakeholders.” He added that the “continued emphasis on clearly separating esports from online money gaming is critical in preserving the integrity of competitive gaming as a skill-driven discipline.” He described it as “a proud moment to see official acknowledgement of the broader benefits of responsible esports and gaming, from building confidence, discipline, and teamwork to creating new career pathways for young talent,” and said the framework sets “a strong foundation for the ecosystem to scale in a more structured and globally competitive manner.”
Animesh Agarwal, co-founder and chief executive of S8UL, was equally bullish. “This clarity is critical in unlocking investor confidence and attracting multi-genre brands, while also enabling organisations to take a more long-term view, whether in investing in talent, scaling teams, or building globally competitive formats,” he said, adding that it “strengthens trust among audiences and mainstream stakeholders, positioning esports not just as a sport, but as a fast-growing youth entertainment category in India.”
But Agarwal urged caution on several fronts. There remains limited clarity around financial frameworks, particularly in how esports earnings are treated by banks and financial institutions. A well-defined pathway for the formal recognition or registration of esports teams is still evolving, as are structured player protections. He also called for smoother visa processes for esports athletes competing in international tournaments and for government support in developing infrastructure, including bootcamps, training facilities, and access to high-performance equipment across titles.
Vishal Parekh, chief operating officer of CyberPowerPC India, pointed to downstream effects on education and careers. “With formal recognition and policy backing, colleges and institutions are more likely to take the sector seriously, whether through dedicated esports infrastructure, training programmes, or curriculum integration,” he said, adding that this helps students view gaming as a viable career spanning roles across competitive play, content, game development, and allied industries. He noted that as esports gains prominence in global multi-sport events, the framework strengthens India’s position in international competitive gaming, and called on the ecosystem to provide the right infrastructure and access to high-performance hardware to unlock opportunities in talent development and job creation.
Protecting users, one safeguard at a time
The rules introduce a layered system of user protections calibrated to the risk profile of each game. These include age verification, age gating, time restrictions, parental controls, user reporting tools, counselling support, and fair-play and integrity monitoring. Service providers must disclose their safety features and internal grievance mechanisms when applying for determination or registration.
A two-tier grievance redressal system sits atop these safeguards. Users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s resolution can escalate to the authority within 30 days. The authority aims to dispose of such appeals within a further 30 days. A second appeal lies before the secretary of MeitY, who must also endeavour to resolve matters within 30 days. Enforcement proceedings will be conducted in digital mode wherever possible, with cases targeted for resolution within 90 days from receipt of a complaint.
Penalties under the framework are proportionate, taking into account gain from non-compliance, loss to users, the gravity of the offence, and whether violations are recurring. Mitigation efforts by service providers will also be considered when determining penalties. All penalties imposed under the Act will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India.
The money follows the rules
For investors and founders, the implications are immediate and significant. Sagar Nair, head of incubation at LVL Zero Incubator, a 100-day sprint designed to accelerate early-stage gaming startups across India, argues that with real-money gaming now prohibited, capital will shift “away from transaction-driven models toward content-led, IP-driven, and global-first gaming businesses.” He acknowledged trade-offs: for operators with exposure to real-money formats, the market becomes more restrictive in the near term. But he argued that by clearly separating esports and non-money gaming from online money gaming, “India is positioning itself as a hub for responsible, creative, and scalable game development.” The opportunity, he said, is “to view India not just as a monetisation-first market, but as a talent, IP, and scale market,” adding that “for founders and investors willing to adapt, this shift could ultimately strengthen India’s position in the global gaming landscape.”
The government frames the wider impact in equally ambitious terms: a boost to India’s creative economy and digital exports, new career pathways for young people, protection for families from predatory platforms, and a stronger voice in global digital governance. India, it argues, offers a model for other countries grappling with the same tensions between gaming’s economic promise and its social risks, one that shows innovation and strong safeguards need not be mutually exclusive.
Whether the framework delivers on those promises will depend on enforcement, always the hardest part. But from today, the architecture is firmly in place: a regulator with teeth, a classification system with deadlines, penalties designed to deter, and a clear dividing line between games that build careers and games that destroy finances. For a sector that has grown fast and governed itself loosely, May 1st, 2026 is the day the free ride ends.
