India demands $12 billion in tax from online gaming firms -govt source

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian tax authorities have served notices to online gaming companies demanding about 1 trillion rupees ($12.03 billion) in taxes that they have allegedly evaded, a government source said on Wednesday.

In August, India decided to impose a 28% tax on online gaming companies on the total funds deposited to play online games, leading to some firms like Mobile Premier League laying off employees.

“The amount for which show cause notices have been issued to online gaming companies is around 1 trillion rupees,” the government official, who did not want to be named, told reporters.

The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

($1=83.1180 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nikunj Ohri; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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