Gaming addiction soars in India as online gaming industry booms

More and more Indians are finding themselves glued to their screens playing online games, with some even losing their savings to online game gambling as the country's gaming industry has kept growing at a double-digit rate in recent years.

With an estimated 450 million players, India is now the world's second-largest online gaming market.

India's online gaming industry is worth nearly two billion U.S. dollars and has been growing at a rate of nearly 30 percent over the past three years. This growth has led to employment and revenue. But media reports point to a rise in gaming addiction and related debts as well.

Some of the addicts started playing with real money simply as a way to "alleviate stress", but they soon found themselves in trouble as they developed an addiction to online games.

For one of the gamers, gambling made him quit his job, wiped out his savings and ruined his relationship with his family.

"At the start, the winning amount was big. So, I started thinking it was a good side income and it became a habit. In a two-year timeframe, I put in over 180,000 U.S. dollars from my savings. I lost that and I also mortgaged my family's gold ornaments to get a loan. That money was lost and the jewelry too," he said.

He added that online gaming pushed him into depression for months, but with intervention he managed to turn things around.

Currently, Indian laws forbid gambling but allow skill-based games, which means card games like rummy and bridge can be played with real money and no restrictions.

As reports of crimes and self-harm related to online gaming debts rise in India, a few Indian states such as Tamil Nadu and Telangana have pushed for stricter regulations. But across much of the country, players are still getting caught in the web of high-stakes gaming, which sometimes leads them to take extreme measures. Despite stricter regulations, advertisements featuring celebrities to attract players and promises of big cash prizes are still frequently seen on websites. Psychologists said the promotions can potentially justify wrongdoing, which is set to hurt the online gamblers themselves.

"If there will be having celebrities endorsing anything, it works on aspirational values. So, a common person who is looking up to that particular person, whether it's a celebrity or anybody else who's endorsing, if you're looking up to that person, you automatically are going to relate and connect. So, it becomes easily justifiable that, alright, it could be something that even I can try and explore," said Nirali Bhatia, a cyber psychologist.

Even as the government has been working actively to revise laws, a resolution agreeable to all is yet to be reached.

Gaming addiction soars in India as online gaming industry booms

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China reported a steady improvement in business performance in October, with expanding domestic and foreign trade markets and growing confidence in development, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

In the first 10 months, the added value of China's industrial SMEs above a designated size increased by 7.0 percent year on year.

The added value of 39 out of 41 major industries maintained growth, which strongly supported the steady growth of China's industrial economy.

The SMEs production index reached 50.7 percent in October, staying in the expansion range for a sixth consecutive month. A production index above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.

According to the ministry, sales of textiles and clothing, grain, oil and food, furniture, and home appliances in the domestic market rebounded significantly in October.

Thanks to efforts made on expanding overseas market, the export index of SMEs in China reached 51.9 percent in October, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, remaining positive for a seventh consecutive month, said the ministry.

"The package of incremental policies has gradually showed its effect. Multiple indicators on production and sales have improved in October. However, we also see that there are more uncertainties in the external environment, which requires us to further increase our support and service efforts," said Liang Zhifeng, director of the SME bureau at the MIIT.

The ministry said that China will continue to improve the public service system for SMEs, and continue services like financing promotion and digital transformation, in a bid to effectively help enterprises reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency.

SMEs in China report steady improvement in business performance in October