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ARTICLE · 27 APRIL 2026

India’s Online Gaming Reset: Decoding Proga And The 2026 Rules

King, Stubb & Kasiva
King, Stubb & Kasiva
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King, Stubb & Kasiva

King, Stubb & Kasiva

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April 22, 2026 marks the day India's online gaming sector stepped out of the grey zone and into a comprehensive, centralised regulatory framework. On this date, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) issued a series of Gazette notifications that together operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (“PROGA” or the “Act”) and the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026 (“Rules”). Both come into force on May 1, 2026.

IndiaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Tanishq Acharya
Tanishq Acharya
Srishti Rathore
Srishti Rathore
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  1. INTRODUCTION

April 22, 2026 marks the day India's online gaming sector stepped out of the grey zone and into a comprehensive, centralised regulatory framework. On this date, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) issued a series of Gazette notifications1 that together operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 20252 (“PROGA” or the “Act”) and the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 20263 (“Rules”). Both come into force on May 1, 2026.

Taken together, these notifications do more than bring a statute into effect- they establish, for the first time, a unified and centralised regulatory framework governing online gaming in India. For online gaming service providers (“OGSPs”), investors, boards, and financial intermediaries, this is not an incremental shift - it is a structural reset.

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