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As more and more companies across the spectrum sack employees amid the global meltdown, at least 853 tech companies worldwide have laid off about 137,492 employees to date, and the tally is only going north amid recession fears. According to data from layoffs.fyi, a crowdsourced database of tech layoffs, 1,388 tech companies have fired a total of 233,483 employees since the onset of Covid-19, but 2022 has been the worst for the tech sector. As of mid-November, more than 73,000 workers in the US tech sector have been laid off in mass-level job cuts led by companies like <keyword id="399907" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword>, Twitter, Salesforce, Netflix, Cisco, Roku, and others. Robinhood, Glossier, and Better are just a few of the tech companies that have notably trimmed their headcount in 2022, according to Crunchbase. Big Tech companies like Amazon and PC and printer major HP Inc have joined the global layoff season and were set to lay off more than 10,000 and up to 6,000 employees in days to come, respectively. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has warned employees that there will be more layoffs at the company in early 2023 "as leaders continue to make adjustments". The massive job cuts have hit several divisions, especially the Alexa virtual assistant business reportedly set to lose $10 billion this year as the voice assistant never managed to create an ongoing revenue stream. Alphabet, <keyword id="6355629" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="google" source="Orion">Google</keyword>'s parent company, is reportedly gearing up to lay off about 10,000 "poor performing" employees, or 6 per cent of its workforce. According to a report in The Information, Google plans to ease out 10,000 employees through a new ranking and performance improvement plan. In India, nearly 16,000 employees have been asked to go by about 44 startups, led by edtech companies like BYJU'S, Unacademy, and <keyword id="2016957" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="vedantu" source="Orion">Vedantu</keyword>, as VC funding dried up. Other tech startups and unicorns that have laid off employees in India include Ola, Cars24, Meesho, LEAD, MPL, Innovaccer, Udaan and more. Meanwhile, thousands of contractual employees have also been let go, making 2022 the harshest year for workers in the technology sector. The startup ecosystem's funding winter could last another 12 to 18 months and the industry may face "a lot of turmoil and volatility", <keyword id="6354742" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="flipkart" source="Orion">Flipkart</keyword> CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has warned. Indian startups are going through steep hiring cuts and the hiring of permanent employees has dipped by a significant 61 per cent in the last 12 months, according to the annual insights report by <keyword id="15395027" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="razorpayx-payroll" source="Orion">RazorpayX Payroll</keyword>, the business banking platform of Razorpay. Only two startups in India, Shiprocket and OneCard, attained unicorn status (valuation $1 billion and above) in the July-September period, according to the latest PwC India report. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/netflix-working-on-brand-new-aaa-pc-game-project/articleshow/95740337.cms">Netflix working on 'brand-new AAA PC game' project</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/binance-looks-to-hire-8k-people-by-2023-end-ceo/articleshow/95716850.cms">Binance looks to hire 8K people by 2023 end: CEO</a>

853 tech firms lay off over 137,492 workers globally, more job cuts coming

New Delhi, As global layoffs deepen, Indian startups are not far behind and have sacked thousands of employees in the past 3-4 months, with many more to be given pink slips in the coming months amid deepening funding winter. In <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, more than 21,000 employees have been laid off by more than 70 startups to day, including from unicorns like BYJU'S, <keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword>, MPL, Innovaccer, Unacademy, Vedantu, Cars24, <keyword id="2808667" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="oyo" source="Orion">OYO</keyword>, Meesho, Udaan and many more. The edtech sector has laid off the most employees, with 16 edtech startups laying off more than 8,000 employees to date. With the onset of January, more and more Indian companies are slashing jobs across the spectrum. The new year has already seen more than 16 homegrown startups sack employees in the country. Social media company <keyword id="3358959" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sharechat" source="Orion">ShareChat</keyword> (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) has laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions. Backed by Twitter, Google, Snap and <keyword id="526777" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tiger-global" source="Orion">Tiger Global</keyword>, ShareChat has about 2,300 employees, and the layoff impacted about 500 people at the company, Healthtech unicorn Innovaccer has sacked nearly 245 employees, or about 15 per cent of its workforce, across teams in India and the US. Innovaccer cofounder and CEO Abhinav Shashank cited an "uncertain macroeconomic environment" as the reason behind the job cuts, according to an internal mail sent to employees and accessed by leading startup news portal Inc42. This was the second layoff at the company in around 4-5 months' time amid the deepening funding winter and recession fears. In September last year, Innovaccer laid off nearly 120 employees, or less than 8 per cent of its workforce. Online food delivery platform <keyword id="6358977" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="swiggy" source="Orion">Swiggy</keyword> confirmed that the company is laying off 380 employees as food delivery growth slows. MediBuddy, an end-to-end digital healthcare platform in India, has laid off 8 per cent of its workforce, around 200 people, across all departments as a restructuring exercise. Homegrown online vehicle repair platform GoMechanic, backed by <keyword id="563136" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia-india" source="Orion">Sequoia India</keyword>, has laid off 70 per cent of its workforce as the startup struggles to raise funds amid serious concerns of accounting troubles. The company has asked the remaining staff to work without pay for three months, according to reports. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) voice automation startup Skit.ai has asked more than 115 employees to go, mostly from its India team, as part of the "restructuring process" amid the deepening funding winter. Even IT giant <keyword id="10862" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wipro" source="Orion">Wipro</keyword> has laid off more than 400 fresher employees for poor performance in internal assessment tests. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/budgeting-for-climate-change/articleshow/97378027.cms">Budgeting for the fifth C</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/an-app-that-wants-to-turn-fear-of-stock-markets-into-fun-raises-75-lakh-from-sharks/articleshow/97378121.cms">An app that wants to turn fear of stock markets into fun raises ₹75 lakh from sharks</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/steps-taken-in-subsidence-hit-joshimath-inadequate-declare-himalayas-eco-sensitive-zone-say-experts/articleshow/97411665.cms">Steps taken in subsidence-hit Joshimath inadequate, declare Himalayas eco-sensitive zone, say experts</a>

70-plus Indian startups show exit door to 21K techies, more pink slips coming

Indian startup founders on Monday said that to explore a comprehensive digital India, the <keyword id="6360189" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="union-budget" source="Orion">Union Budget</keyword> for FY24 must leverage the full inherent potential of the homegrown technology industry to become champions of digitisation. Gautam <keyword id="893041" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="nimmagadda" source="Orion">Nimmagadda</keyword>, Founder and CEO of Quixy, a cloud-based no-code application development platform, said that currently, startups can avail of a tax holiday for three years since incorporation. "However, the ideal exemption should be 10 years, in view of the high cost of solution development. As positive employment drivers, startups also require government intervention in the expensive affair of hiring and retaining the right talent to drive growth," Nimmagadda said in a statement. "To lead the startups onwards and upwards, a single-window process to enable the right financial support from government would be incentivising for MSMEs," he added. According to ESOPDhan co-founder <keyword id="576027" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="nitin-agarwal" source="Orion">Nitin Agarwal</keyword>, the budget can reduce the holding period of ESOP shares of unlisted companies from two years to one year for purposes of capital gain. "This would make ESOPs a more attractive tool to retain and reward employees, especially among startups that are today seen as major job creators," Agarwal added. 2023 is already shaping up to be a watershed moment for the gaming industry. With the government releasing draft online gaming rules earlier this month, the burgeoning sector will see a lot more success this year. According to Sai Srinivas, Co-founder and CEO of MPL, the industry hopes to get clarity in a few areas. "The first is the GST mechanism on online gaming. We hope the government provides clarity on the tax slab applicable on skill gaming. Another relates to the AVGC fund set up as part of the AVGC Promotion Task Force announced in last year's budget," he mentioned. Access to financial support "will be a tremendous boost to young talented developers and designers, and will accelerate the push to 'Create in India' and take made-in-India games to the world," he added. <keyword id="16292225" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="dhruv-jolly" source="Orion">Dhruv Jolly</keyword>, Founder and MD, <keyword id="16292224" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="taponn" source="Orion">TapOnn</keyword> digital, said that the budget would include some assistance for qualifying firms under the 'Startup India Scheme' in terms of the number of taxes that must be filed, the frequency of filing, or the tax slabs. "We might witness a strong emphasis on attracting more foreign investment, making the registration and compliance process more easy and fast, and strengthening economic ties with other countries in the Indo-Pacific region," Jolly said. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/adani-group-stocks-witness-high-volatility-amidst-war-of-words-between-the-company-and-hindenburg-research/articleshow/97437171.cms">Adani Group stocks witness high volatility amidst war of words between the company and Hindenburg Research</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/auto-parts-sourcing-startup-capgrid-raises-7-million-from-nexus-venture-others/articleshow/97437294.cms">Auto parts sourcing startup CapGrid raises $7 million from Nexus Venture, others</a>

Budget expectations: Startups seek 10-yr tax holiday, less holding period of ESOP shares

More than 32,000 tech workers have been laid off in the US till July this year, including at Big Tech companies like <keyword id="10387" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="microsoft" source="Orion">Microsoft</keyword> and <keyword id="399907" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword> (formerly Facebook) and the worst has not been over yet for the tech sector that has seen massive stock sell-off. According to the data compiled by Crunchbase, more than 32,000 workers in the US tech sector have been laid off in mass job cuts, as of late July. "We've included both startups and publicly traded companies that are based in the US. We've also included companies based elsewhere that have a sizable team in the United States, such as Klarna," the analysis said. The layoff includes ride-sharing platform Uber, <keyword id="128682" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="netflix" source="Orion">Netflix</keyword> and several cryptocurrency exchanges and lending platforms. Robinhood, <keyword id="4522875" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="glossier" source="Orion">Glossier</keyword> and Better are just a few of the tech companies that have trimmed their headcount this year. Since April 1 this year, more than 43,000 workers from 342 tech companies/startups have been laid off across the world and over 13 per cent are from <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, according to latest data compiled by layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks layoffs in startups. In India, more than 25,000 startup workers have lost jobs since the pandemic began -- and more than 11,500 have been fired this year. The layoffs in India are dominated by edtech platforms like Unacademy (1,150 employees), BYJU'S (550 at Toppr and <keyword id="8080458" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="whitehat-jr" source="Orion">Whitehat Jr</keyword>) and <keyword id="2016957" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="vedantu" source="Orion">Vedantu</keyword> (624), along with ride-hailing platform <keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword> (nearly 500), healthcare startup MFine (600) and pre-owned cars platform Cars24 (600), among others. The other Indian startups and unicorns that have laid off employees are Meesho, MPL, Trell and Blinkit (now owned by <keyword id="830092" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="zomato" source="Orion">Zomato</keyword>), among others. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/amazon-great-freedom-festival-date-announced-sale-starts-august-6-onwards/articleshow/93268050.cms">Amazon Great Freedom Festival date announced - sale starts August 6 onwards</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/swine-flu-resurfaces-in-keralas-wayanad-first-time-in-kannur/articleshow/93267832.cms">Swine flu resurfaces in Kerala's Wayanad, first time in Kannur</a>

Over 32K tech workers fired in US, more than 11K in India this year

<ul><li>The tech industry has seen more than 200,000 <keyword id="6357067" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="layoffs" source="Orion">layoffs</keyword> since the start of 2022.</li><li>Instead of performance, the focus for layoffs is more on eliminating redundant roles that no longer add a major value to the organization.</li><li>Some of the red flags an employee should look out for are a decrease in hiring, budget cuts and changes in management.</li></ul>Bipin Singh, a business development manager at Byju’s with over 11 years experience in the EdTech industry was laid off last month after a stint of 1.5 years at the company. In his LinkedIn post he mentioned about the layoff and urged everyone to reach out to him with job offers or if not, like share and comment on his post to increase reach. Anil <keyword id="906861" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sahani" source="Orion">Sahani</keyword>, a software engineer, lost his job in Accenture recently .“I was one of the first ones to let go as I was a contract employee and also did not have any notice period. The layoffs are still on.” Singh and Sahani are among the thousands of employees who have been affected by tech layoffs in India. Google trend data, which reflects what people search for, shows that between January 22-28 this year, the term ‘layoff’ was at its peak popularity of 100, while between January 23 to January 29 last year, it was just at five. This is not surprising because layoffs are being reported majorly in the media and almost every other post on Linkedin is talking about layoffs. It all started with the news that the big tech giants like Amazon and Google parent Alphabet were laying off in large numbers. While Alphabet laid off 12,000 people, the Amazon layoffs affected more than 18,000 people. Microsoft said it will lay off 10,000 people by the end of the third quarter of 2023 and even SAP and IBM have started laying off employees. It seems it is almost like a contagion that is spreading rapidly like wildfire. The Indian situation: Which brings us to the question: Is the situation as bad in India? Layoffs are now a reality in India too. Reports suggest that around 21,000 techies have lost their jobs in the last three to four months. In the third week of January, Wipro fired more than 400 freshers for failing performance tests. While Amazon has laid off 1,000 of its employees in India, IBM and SAP are also laying off employees, affecting their employees in India as well. Very recently, Byju’s laid off 1,000 people, in a second round of layoffs in February. Sivaprasad N, vice president &amp; business head, TeamLease Digital, a staffing solutions company, puts the number of layoffs in the tech industry at more than 2,00,000 since 2022. Over 21,000 employees <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/70-plus-indian-startups-show-exit-door-to-21k-techies-more-pink-slips-coming/articleshow/97411761.cms?">have been laid off </a>by 70 startups in the past 3-4 months including from unicorns like BYJU'S, <keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword>, MPL, Innovaccer, Unacademy, Vedantu, Cars24, OYO, Meesho, Udaan and many more. Anuj Gupta, who has over 10 years of experience in SEO, has lost his job in edtech company upGrad and is a part of the current tech and marketing layoff wave. The layoff situation in India is currently more of a spill-over effect of shake-ups in the West. Unlike the funding winter that hit the Indian funded tech startups cohort in 2022, the current layoffs by big labels are largely corrective talent adjustments. “Despite potential opportunities coming our way due to global shakeups, it is prudent for India Inc. to treat the current layoffs as a tip of the iceberg,” says <keyword id="138078" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kamal-karanth" source="Orion">Kamal Karanth</keyword>, CoFounder, Xpheno, a specialist staffing company. He adds that enterprises, especially in tech, will benefit from remaining alert and conservative on costs for at least two quarters. Agrees Sivaprasad, “Companies are battling a slowdown in demand after a hiring frenzy. No company is certain to avoid significant cutbacks in such an economic environment. We are witnessing a significant drop in tech hiring unlike previous years as companies are only doing selective hiring for critical projects. It looks like the trend will continue for some time.” Many IT majors have announced mass layoffs in the last couple of months, quoting factors like overhiring, an impending recession and geopolitical conflicts. “We expect businesses to exhibit caution in hiring and workforce management through a major part of 2023,” <keyword id="13896318" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sachin-alug" source="Orion">Sachin Alug</keyword>, CEO, NLB Services - a global technology &amp; digital talent solutions company. Delhi-based Pankaj Kumar, laid off from a software company this month, says that one day he got a message saying that the company was restructuring and that it was his last day. “However, we were forced to resign and also we received very little in the name of assistance as promised.” Kumar feels that most startups today have no clue about manpower requirements and just hire to show their investors that they are doing well without having an idea of how they can sustain themselves in crucial times. Tech jobs have been the most affected: As discussed, tech companies, especially IT firms, are very vulnerable to an impending recession in the US. “The tech sector has always been highly sensitive to economic cycles, and the current economic downturn could have a significant impact on these companies. A recession could lead to decreased consumer spending, reduced corporate investment, and layoffs, which could all hit tech companies hard,” says <keyword id="328697" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sandeep-budhiraja" source="Orion">Sandeep Budhiraja</keyword>, Co-founder, Executive Director and Chief People Officer - BYLD Group which provides HR and Business productivity solutions, Additionally, the US market is a major source of revenue for many tech companies, so a recession here could have a widespread impact on global operations. Finally, any disruption to the global supply chain could further disrupt tech companies, as many rely on components and materials sourced from around the world. “The sectors that may be most affected, other than the technology, are telecommunications, financial services and retail. The telecommunications sector could be hit by reduced investment in infrastructure and lower customer demand. The financial services sector could be adversely affected by a decrease in credit availability and tightened lending standards, while the retail sector could suffer from decreased consumer spending,” adds Budhiraja. Everyone is vulnerable: “Instead of performance, the focus for layoffs is more on eliminating redundant roles that no longer add major value to the organization. Usually, mass layoffs affect employees invariably regardless of their performance but in organizations that choose to let go of a selected few, performers at a certain level tend to be the target,” says Alug. The primary causes of layoffs are the foreseeable recession and the geopolitical scenario which have led to inflation, impacting many industries. Prominent players in the IT and Technology domain are being cautious to ensure profitability and better predictability of business. Agrees Karanth, “The larger layoffs related to enterprise strategy and austerity are mostly across the ranks and ratings of performance. Such layoffs related to macroeconomic movements are typically steamrollers on entire divisions, geographies and business units. While each enterprise has their own pattern of priority on the layoffs, the high cost and high volume headcounts typically come under the lens faster.” Look out for red flags: “Layoffs in a situation like now are largely written on the wall. It is often the speed and style of a layoff that's a surprise to talent, and not the layoff by itself,” says Karanth. Some of the red flags an employee should look out for are a decrease in hiring, budget cuts and changes in management. “Additionally, if a company is reducing or eliminating certain departments or projects, it may be a sign that layoffs are coming. If there are rumours of layoffs or if employees are being asked to take unpaid leave, this could also be a sign that layoffs are imminent. Finally, if the company is not meeting its financial goals or is experiencing a downturn in business, layoffs may be a possibility,” says Alug. Hiring remains slow: “Many of those who lost their jobs are still looking for work, as nearly every major corporation has put a freeze on new hiring due to global macroeconomic conditions and recession fears. We are witnessing a significant drop in tech hiring unlike previous years as companies are only doing selective hiring for critical projects. Looks like the trend would continue for some time,” says Sivaprasad. However Karanth feels that while tech hiring has slowed down, there are opportunities for talent who are flexible and agile to look beyond their domain. The non-tech sector's talent demand has been compensating well for tech's hiring slowdown. <keyword id="2838370" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shraddha-jain" source="Orion">Shraddha Jain</keyword>, who is also known as 'Aiyyo Shraddha' on social media, posted a hilarious video on Instagram, where she slammed companies for laying off employees despite making a profit. "At the company offsite, we celebrated the company tripling its profit in a year. What happened? A month later we are so poor. Who robbed us?" she asked. While these are questions that reflect the grim reality of large scale layoffs, employees should brace themselves for tough times ahead. 2023 will be a turbulent ride.

Tech layoffs to continue for sometime thanks to a slowdown in demand and an uncertain economic environment

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The commercial space industry is ratcheting up the frequency of rocket launches and the sizes of its vehicles.</li><li>Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX, hopes to see more 1,000 launches per year of the company's new 39-story Starship rocket system.</li><li>But before any company can launch a rocket in the US, they must work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to obtain a launch license. One factor is accident insurance, and the amount is mostly determined by the risk to lives on the ground.</li><li>The FAA uses a $3 million amount as the value for each casualty in a hypothetical worst-case accident. The number was chosen in 1988, based on airline crash lawsuits, but has not budged since despite inflation and other factors.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here to read more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>WASHINGTON - With the meteoric rise of the commercial spaceflight industry, which has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-angels-report-dawn-private-spaceflight-age-26-billion-invested-2020-1">seen nearly $30 billion in private investments</a> over the past decade, the world could soon see far more rockets - and much, much bigger ones - launching and landing on the regular.But with any boost in access to space comes increased risk, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which issues rocket-launch licenses, has for years avoided a serious reckoning of calculating the value of a human life, according to government auditors.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-stock-options-internal-market-tender-offer-2020-1">SpaceX</a>, the aerospace company founded by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-boca-chica-texas-possible-crash-pad-house-2020-1">Elon Musk</a>, is on track to launch about two dozen Falcon 9 rockets in 2020. But Musk recently said Earth may soon see more than 1,000 launches per year of Starship, a planned 39-story rocket system that's designed to slash launch costs perhaps 1,000-fold. Each spaceship could ostensibly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plans-1-million-people-to-mars-by-2050-2020-1">ferry 100 people to Mars</a> and pack up to 100 tons of payload."Megatons per year to orbit are needed for life to become multiplanetary," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1217986505513172992" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> this month.Rocket launches can't happen willy-nilly from US soil, though; SpaceX and other companies must get clearance from the FAA. Accident insurance is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-rocket-launch-liability-insurance-faa-mandate-2019-8">core requirement of a launch license</a>, and to calculate the coverage needed, the agency simulates the unthinkable: a worst-case accident that has a 1-in-1o-million chance of occurring.The damage and death resulting from such an unlikely nightmare is called "maximum probable loss," or MPL, and its priciest - and most controversial - component is called "cost-of-casualty amount." In short, the figure attempts to estimate the value of a human life brought to a premature end on the ground by an explosion, falling debris, or some other lethal consequence of a launch or landing failure. "It sounds strange when you think about it. How can you put a value on human life?" George Nield, a former FAA associate administrator who led its Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) for more than a decade, previously told Business Insider. "But you want to make sure people and families are compensated if something happens that's not their fault."Currently, the FAA ascribes what it has called a "conservative" value of $3 million per hypothetical victim. But federal auditors within the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have hammered this figure over the years for being much too low."[B]y not prioritizing this weakness FAA may be exposing the federal government to excess risk. By continuing to use the $3 million cost-of-casualty amount in its MPL calculation methodology that we and others have noted is outdated, FAA may not be requiring launch companies to have sufficient insurance to cover all losses that can be reasonably expected," the GAO wrote in <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-366" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March 2017 report</a>.<h2>Why the FAA says one life is worth $3 million in a spaceflight accident</h2>When the AST (the commercial space transportation office) formed in 1984, Nield said Congress gave the new FAA division two central and seemingly contradictory missions: keep the public safe, yet also "encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space transportation."Instead of simply saying "no" to every launch, Nield says the AST works with companies to think through their launch vehicle's hazards, model possible accident scenarios, establish safety zones, and then calculate if the overall risk is acceptable."The probability of an expected casualty has to be less than 100 in a million, otherwise you're not going to be able to fly," Nield said.In the case of SpaceX's most recent Starship-related launch - the flight of a stubby, six-story prototype <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-video-youtube-live-video-feed-2019-8">called the Starhopper</a> - the FAA said the risk of one casualty was about 1-in-1 million, or 100 times less. The rocket launched from a pad located about 1.5 miles east of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-texas-starship-mars-launch-site-pictures-2019-5">Boca Chica Village at the very southern tip of Texas</a>, where SpaceX is building out a private spaceport amid a few dozen homes."To put this extremely remote chance in perspective, if SpaceX was to launch this same exact mission every day, we would statistically expect one serious injury or fatality at Boca Chica Village between 720 B.C. and today," an FAA spokesperson previously told Business Insider.For that launch, the FAA mandated that SpaceX obtain $100 million in worst-case-scenario insurance - nearly all of which was tied to 33 estimated casualties, valued at $3 million each.But as the GAO and other federal entities have indicated, that figure is likely "outdated" and "insufficient."In the mid-1980s, when AST was formed, there was - and still is - no on-the-ground death resulting from a commercial space launch. The office eventually settled on the $3 million figure in 1988, basing it on legal judgements and settlements that arose from airline crash lawsuits. The number was more like $1 million per death, but GAO auditors said the office wanted to be "conservative" and tripled the number.The FAA contracted the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) in 2015 to reevaluate the figure and make a recommendation - but it couldn't. The reason, said government auditors, is that many airplane crash lawsuits ended privately, and thus STPI "was only able to access very limited information on settlement awards," the GAO wrote in its 2017 report. "As a result," the report said, "a reliable estimate of the average loss per casualty" could not be made.The $3 million has not budged since, even though that amount of money in 1988 dollars - when adjusted for inflation - is now worth more than double that amount."STPI's study indicated that a cost-of-casualty amount of approximately $6 million per casualty might be appropriate, but the study did not make a recommendation of what amount ths FAA should use," the GAO wrote.<h2>When the price of a life might go up</h2>A follow-up report by GAO officials in <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-57" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 2018</a> noted some progress on the matter, but found the FAA still under-prioritizing the matter and, as of publication, the agency is still using the $3 million figure.The GAO, which in part aims to keep the government from shooting itself in the foot financially, is concerned about the figure because a real-world accident could see claims that exceed the insurance taken out by an aerospace company.Nield explained the MPL insurance - for example, the policy SpaceX obtained for its Starhopper launch in August 2019 - is only the first part of a three-tier system to soak up liability. A company's insurance requirement maxes out at $500 million. If, in the event of a very unlikely incident, the liability exceeds that amount, he says the FAA can move to the second tier: asking for up to $1.5 billion in additional cash to compensate victims."What if it's a really, really, really bad day, and the losses add up to more than that amount?" Nield said of the total $2 billion.The third tier of liability moves back the company: "Then the losses and responsibility reverts to the launch operator. Unless it's a very large and stable company, that's going to put them out of business."In its 2018 report, the GAO said the FAA was working toward revisiting the $3 million figure, but intended to consult with private launch and insurance companies, as well as a then-recently reestablished Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee. At the time, the FAA hoped to get to the matter in mid-2018 - but the GAO noted that deadline was unlikely to be met.More than two years after the GAO filed what appears to be its latest report, the FAA is still using $3 million as its cost-of-casualty amount as other upcoming launch systems, like Starship and Blue Origin's New Glenn and New Armstrong rockets, move toward reality.The FAA likely will not begin to revisit the cost-of-casualty amount until this fall at the earliest, according to an email sent by a spokesperson to Business Insider, adding that those discussions later this year "would only be the beginning of the process.""The top priority is to streamline launch and reentry licensing requirements overall," the spokesperson said, noting that the agency is working to submit a package of new regulations for launch and reentry of commercial spacecraft, called SLR2. "The current proposed rule is designed to consolidate and streamline multiple regulations, as well as allow performance based regulations that give more flexibility to the license applicants while still protecting public safety."Speaking at the agency's 23rd annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference here in Washington, DC, Wayne Monteith, who heads the FAA's AST office, said that those new regulations likely won't be completed until the fall.For his part, though, Nield says it's important to highlight the current safety record of the more than <a href="https://www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/">335 commercial launches licensed by the FAA</a>."There has never been a member of the public ever killed or had property damage by a commercial space flight," Nield said last year. "This is because the industry and the government have done a good job of ensuring public safety."Do you have a story to share about the spaceflight industry? Send Dave Mosher an email at <a href="mailto:dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com</a> or send him a Twitter direct message to <a href="https://twitter.com/davemosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@davemosher</a>. You may also consider more secure communication options <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dave-mosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed here</a>.

Your life is worth about $3 million in a rocket accident, according to the FAA. Here's how the agency got that number - and why auditors say it's a problem.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/spacex">SpaceX</a> successfully launched and landed its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starhopper">Starhopper</a> rocket-ship prototype in South Texas on Tuesday, a key step in the company's quest to reach Mars.</li><li>Before Starhopper's final flight, though, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/federal-aviation-administration">Federal Aviation Administration</a> asked for "more hazard analysis" - likely because the launch site is near a small hamlet called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-texas-starship-mars-launch-site-pictures-2019-5">Boca Chica Village</a>.</li><li>The US regulator required SpaceX to boost its liability <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/insurance">insurance</a> coverage from $3 million to $100 million after the analysis.</li><li>The jump likely came from a higher, more fueled-up, and slightly riskier launch profile - plus SpaceX fans coming to the area to witness the launch.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>On Tuesday evening, SpaceX <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-video-youtube-live-video-feed-2019-8">launched its Starhopper rocket ship</a> about 492 feet (150 meters) into the South Texas skies atop a cloud of smoke and dust - and $100 million worth of liability insurance.That's according to an updated <a href="https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/media/150%20m%20hop%20Permit%20%20Order%20Mod_08_23_2019.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launch license</a> for the vehicle issued on August 23 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates US aerospace activities.There's always a risk a rocket may explode during its launch, and that risk is higher for experimental vehicles like Starhopper, which SpaceX built as a test bed for its new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-raptor-mars-moon-rocket-engine-blast-videos-2019-2">Raptor rocket engine</a> design. (Dozens of the engines will power a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-nasa-saturn-v-sls-moon-rockets-comparison-2019-7">far larger</a> launch system called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mars-starship-spacex-starhopper-rocket-moon-2019-6">Starship</a>, which is being designed for journeys to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-moon-landing-nasa-cfo-jeff-dewit-2019-7">moon</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-colonization-human-survival-radiation-food-biosphere-2018-4">Mars</a>.)Elon Musk, the company's founder, is familiar with such eventualities. Back in 2017, Musk even shared <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-rockets-blowing-up-youtube-video-2017-9">a supercut video</a> of every explosive mistake (what he's jokingly described as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly") in SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-reusable-rocket-launch-costs-profits-2017-6">development</a> of reusable rockets.But $100 million in accident coverage was 33 times higher than what the FAA required SpaceX to have for Starhopper's launch just a month earlier. For that flight on July 25, the license mandated least $3 million in coverage.Why the mandatory boost in coverage? As with all things in rocket <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>, it's complicated.<h2>'The more propellant you load, the bigger the boom'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>There are a number of likely reasons the federal regulator required SpaceX to boost its insurance coverage, says George Nield, a former FAA associate administrator who led its Office of Commercial Space <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="transportation">Transportation</keyword> (OCST) for more than a decade.One is that Tuesday's launch took Starhopper hundreds of feet higher than in July; during the prior flight, SpaceX's vehicle only <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-landing-rocket-ship-success-video-pictures-2019-7">went about 60 feet (18 meters) up</a> before landing."The higher you want to go, the more propellant you're going to have to load, and the more propellant you load, the bigger the boom if it were to explode," Nield told Business Insider prior to Tuesday's launch.Nield added that there's also a very remote yet real chance a rocket can tip over and start flying sideways."You could go a lot farther than just having an explosion right over the launchpad. And that could be bringing in more people, more buildings, and more roads that could be impacted," he said - though he stipulated that such a scenario is exceedingly unlikely.Such an incident would matter less for a site with no people living for miles around, as is the case with SpaceX launch facilities in Florida and California."We've got a lot of land with nobody around. And so if it blows up, it's cool," Musk said of the soon-to-be Starhopper prototype during <a href="https://expeditedtranscripts.com/full-transcript-news-conference-spacex-falcon-heavy-test-flight/">a press conference</a> in February 2018.But the area is not uninhabited.<h2>SpaceX's launch site in South Texas is close to a hamlet</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>SpaceX built its launchpad about 1.5 miles miles (2.4 kilometers) from the eastern edge of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-texas-starship-mars-launch-site-pictures-2019-5">Boca Chica Village</a>, a hamlet that's home to about 20 part- and full-time residents.Many of those people were alerted to the increased (yet remote) risk of a mishap on Saturday. That's when Cameron County sheriffs handed out safety notices that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-sheriff-issues-explosion-risk-safety-warning-notice-2019-8">warned of a possible "overpressure event"</a> - essentially a blastwave from an explosion - from a rocket malfunction, which could break their windows and possibly cause injury.SpaceX apparently asked the county to issue the notice "as part of a conservative safety mitigation in the extremely remote chance an accident would affect Boca Chica Village," an FAA spokesperson told Business Insider in an email on Monday.Musk hinted at the increased risk of the flight on August 15, when he <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1162096454367756288" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> the FAA needed "a bit more hazard analysis." Probably as a result of that work, SpaceX cut Starhopper's maximum altitude from about 656 feet (200 meters) down to 492 feet (150 meters).Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-texas-starship-launch-site-development-challenges-2019-6">Elon Musk is building SpaceX's Mars rockets in a tiny Texas hamlet. But getting them off the ground there may be harder than he imagined.</a>Though Starhopper is now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-rocket-ship-final-launch-starship-plans-2019-8">headed into retirement</a> as a test stand for future Raptor engines, SpaceX is pursuing more launches of larger and higher-flying vehicles in the near future."Working on regulatory approval for both Boca Chica, Texas, and Cape Kennedy, Florida," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1107370515570671616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> in March. "Will also be building Starship &amp; Super Heavy simultaneously in both locations."Before the FAA can approve experimental launch licenses for such vehicles, its rules require calculating how much risk the public will be exposed to, what a worst-case scenario might be, and how much that might cost in property damage, injuries, and deaths.Here, Starhopper's flight offers some clues as to what to expect in the future.<h2>The FAA estimates a person's life is worth about $3 million based on lawsuit data</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>When OCST was formed in 1984, Nield said Congress gave the new division two central and seemingly contradictory missions: keep the public safe, yet also "encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space transportation."Instead of simply saying "no" to every launch, Nield says the OCST works with companies to think through their launch vehicle's hazards, model possible accident scenarios, establish safety zones, and then calculate if the overall risk is acceptable."The probability of an expected casualty has to be less than 100 in a million, otherwise you're not going to be able to fly," Nield said.In the case of Starhopper's final launch, the FAA said the risk of one casualty was about 1-in-1 million, or 100 times less."To put this extremely remote chance in perspective, if SpaceX was to launch this same exact mission every day, we would statistically expect one serious injury or fatality at Boca Chica Village between 720 B.C. and today," the spokesperson said.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-rocket-launch-wildfires-texas-2019-7">SpaceX's launch of an experimental rocket ship set fire to about 100 acres of wildlife refuge in south Texas</a>The mandatory insurance increase in SpaceX's launch license stemmed from a different calculation, though, called "maximum probable loss," or MPL, and Nield says it's not a number regulators "pull out of a hat."MPL takes into account what Nield calls a "very, very bad day," and it values each human life at around $3 million. The FAA settled on the number in the late 1980s by averaging what juries were awarding in damages to survivors of accident victims."It sounds strange when you think about it. How can you put a value on human life?" Nield said. "But you want to make sure people and families are compensated if something happens that's not their fault."Nield added: "When this was done originally, it was very, very conservative and assumed everybody died. But then there's the real world where that probably doesn't happen."He also explained the MPL insurance is the first part of a three-tier system to soak up liability, and the requirement maxes out at $500 million. If a launch accident's liability exceeds that amount, he says the FAA can ask for up to $1.5 billion in additional cash to compensate victims."What if it's a really, really, really bad day, and the losses add up to more than that amount?" Nield said of the total $2 billion. "Then the losses and responsibility reverts to the launch operator. Unless it's a very large and stable company, that's going to put them out of business."<h2>Why Starhopper's final launch needed 33 times its previous insurance coverage</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>SpaceX fever likely also played a role: The regulator knew rocket-launch fans would travel to Boca Chica Village to witness the spectacle - what Musk has <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1154599520711266305" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jokingly called</a> a flying water tower - and temporarily boost its local population."The ... insurance requirement increased to $100 million because we revised the estimated number of people present at launch in Boca Chica Village to 33. Each person requires $3 million, plus potential property damage," the FAA spokesperson told Business Insider.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-nasa-saturn-v-sls-moon-rockets-comparison-2019-7">How SpaceX's new Starship launch system compares to NASA's towering moon rockets</a>SpaceX is now pushing to launch a new prototype - a roughly 18-story-tall vehicle called Starship Mk1 - from Boca Chica, which may fly around Earth and land back at or near the site. As that development program progresses, Nield says it's important to note the safety record of the more than <a href="https://www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/">325 commercial launches licensed by the FAA</a>."There has never been a member of the public ever killed or had property damage by a commercial space flight," Nield said. "This is because the industry and the government have done a good job of ensuring public safety."<div><div style="position:relative; padding-bottom:calc(56.25% + 44px)"></div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mars-starship-spacex-starhopper-rocket-moon-2019-6">Elon Musk's multibillion-dollar Starship rocket could one day take people to the moon and Mars</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The FAA made SpaceX boost its accident insurance 33-fold, to $100 million, before Starhopper's last launch. Here's why.

<ul><li>In our last feature from the series where we crystal-gazed into 2022 and brought to you some key trends that will impact the industry, we speak to experts from the Indian <keyword id="6357332" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gaming" source="Orion">gaming</keyword> industry.</li><li>They share their thoughts of a few big trends that will dominate the industry in 2022.</li></ul>As we enter 2022, we can only look back and wonder at the meteoric rise online gaming has seen in India in the past two years. While gaming had been witnessing growth, albeit a relatively slow one, before the lockdown, it was during the locked-at-home phase that many across the country not only discovered the joys of gaming, but also realised they could make a healthy living out of it. If most reports coming out in the last one year are to be believed, India will see an even faster growth for the industry in the next few years, and now Bharat is joining in this growth. A recent report by <keyword id="7087972" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mobile-premier-league" source="Orion">Mobile Premier League</keyword> (MPL), an <keyword id="2440542" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="esports" source="Orion">esports</keyword> and skill gaming platform revealed that India’s tier-III cities and towns have witnessed a significant rise in the number of online gamers in 2021. The top 30 of them reported up to 170% more gamers compared to 2020. Some of the small towns have more than 100% to up to 200% growth in online gamers. Another report by Sequoia India and BCG said that while the gaming industry in India is currently smaller than that of the US and China and is 1% of the global gaming market, it is generating $1.5B revenue and is expected to triple to over $5 billion by 2025 on the back of the ‘mobile first’ phenomenon. This massive growth has also led to a new breed of influencers who are being followed by hundreds of thousands of engaged audiences. YouTube’s recently released list of top Indian creators on its platform featured 5 gamers. And things are just about starting to get heated. To understand where this highly dynamic industry is headed in this next year, we reached out to a few prominent voices from the industry and this is what they had to say: Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India &amp; Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) India was a sleeping giant till Covid-19 happened, and now we have established ourselves as a market that cannot be ignored; Stakeholders like the brands, investors, authorities and so on, were just sitting on the fence and observing. But with a market of at least 450 million online gamers, the potential of video games and esports cannot be ignored. The year 2021, has been the inflection point for video games in India. While esports evolves itself into various business models, Non-fungible token (NFT) will be one big trend to watch out for in 2022. Video Games is the best use case for NFTs, customization of the skins, virtual avatars, in-game items/rewards etc. all this already exists in video games (so-called metaverse) and is now starting to be converted into NFTs. One of the key drivers for the meteoric growth of Video Games has been live streaming and esports, and such content creators and/IP holders will eventually look at converting the best of gameplays/streaks/moments into NFTs, which not only help increase monetization for content creators, video game developers etc. but also be a catalyst in terms of retention of fans and users respectively. Anirudh Pandita, Founder, <keyword id="820765" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Loco" source="Orion">Loco</keyword> Gaming has now arrived as a truly mainstream entertainment experience and has become the primary source of entertainment for India’s young generation. 2021 saw the rise of esports and game streaming, and 2022 will see this multiply. In 2021, we saw the arrival of BGMI which all Indian fans were waiting for and in 2022, we will see multiple big publishers release games for India. In 2021, we saw esports go to new heights and we will see continued growth in the sector in the next year as prize money as well as number of games will increase. Game streaming saw the entry of hundreds of thousands of new streamers and millions of viewers, and this trend should accelerate in 2022, with individual streams rivaling those of major traditional sports. Lastly, with blockchain providing interesting use cases, we expect to see interesting new use cases come out to help creators and consumers. We, at Loco, have always aimed at paving the way for gaming to go from a niche hobby to a mainstream national interest- which the year 2021 has helped realize. We are confident that with this, India will cement its place on the global gaming map in 2022. Abhishek Aggarwal, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, <keyword id="12415204" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trinity-gaming" source="Orion">Trinity Gaming</keyword> The gaming industry is progressing, taking complete advantage of the latest developments in technology, software, better internet services, gadgets, cloud technology and more. In the Indian scenario, there is an explosive growth of gamers in this booming industry with creative and engaging content being an important aspect of the system. With more games introduced and with more people joining the pool, more brands are shifting their focus on marketing their brands through these young creators who have an enormous fan following across the age group of 15-30 which is the most targeted audience in advertising terms for both endemic and non-endemic brands. Gaming content has begun to penetrate the Tier II, Tier III locations, and beyond, giving vernacular content creators a chance to grow. With Hindi &amp; Tamil being the two most popular languages in streaming in India, it will surely gain more prominence in the coming time. More people will watch game streaming. Audiences tend to admire their creators and feel more connected to them due to their high level of engagement. The future of gaming beholds a lot and a stronger and classified gaming ecosystem is on the rise. Tarun Gupta, Founder, <keyword id="10820861" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ultimate-battle" source="Orion">Ultimate Battle</keyword> Games and gaming content are highly engaging and we're seeing a huge spike in average and concurrent viewership for gaming content. The consumers are very dynamic and their attention span size has decreased noticeably in GenZ. We see short gaming video content to witness a never seen before hype in the gaming community. The mobile gaming market is expanding in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and we'll witness a rise in engagement in games, viewership, and content creation. Young gamers will play engaging games, consume fast-paced engaging content, and want to socialize with gamers often simultaneously. This will lead to more virtual world socialization among the young generation and higher consumption of gaming content. As such, 2022 will usher higher inclination by brands into the gaming industry to target the young age group of 18 to 25. With many startups and organizations focusing on gaming and esports, we'll see a spike in Esports events and team IPs being created. This will boost the gaming ecosystem in India and open multiple opportunities in careers for gamers and IT professionals. Roland Landers, CEO, <keyword id="3634002" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="All-India-Gaming-Federation" source="Orion">All India Gaming Federation</keyword> The Indian gaming industry along with the M&amp;E segment has now become one of the fastest growing sectors in India with around 7.3 Bn downloads in recent years. It has emerged as an important avenue due to a multitude of favorable factors such as young and tech-savvy population, affordable availability of feature-packed smartphones, better internet connectivity, and an overall technological development. The move has also accelerated the growth of multi gaming format in the online gaming space. The Indian gaming industry is expected to reach 3 billion by 2025 and is now projected to grow faster than the global online gaming segment. The industry currently employs 40,000 people in direct jobs and by 2024 the online skill gaming industry is expected to employ around 2 lakh people. This growth will further lead to revenue generation for the country, driven by ease of payment, better security and instant withdrawal of winnings etc. As the regulatory landscape is also evolving and positive judgments are expected from many states, we as an industry leader look forward to an exciting year for this sunrise sector. With its exponential growth, the gaming industry will also attract international investors to invest in the Indian market. Sameer Barde, CEO - E Gaming Federation <div type="image" title="IMG-20220110-WA0005" msid="88826278" hostid="261"></div> Online gaming will become increasingly mainstream and find acceptance as a source of entertainment in 2022. This year, we anticipate a growth rate of over 35 % for the sector as a whole. However, for this to happen, we hope to see government stakeholders accepting the need for regulation to protect the player and industry interests. Increasing monetization and adoption of new-age technology including blockchain and NFTs in the gaming ecosystem will be seen. We expect a larger number of players moving from free-to-play to paying-to-play, in-game purchases, and skill gaming. Industry players will develop new and exciting games for users based on traditional games and Indian themes, keeping the PM’s vision in mind. Additionally, e-Sports being a medal sport in the forthcoming Asian Games in September will result in a significant increase both in terms of acceptance and interest. All in all, we at EGF are excited and believe that this will be a bellwether year for the entire industry. Bhavin Pandya, CEO and Co-Founder, <keyword id="8913431" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Games24x7" source="Orion">Games24x7</keyword> The Indian online skill gaming industry is poised for tremendous growth. With the right support particularly in the form of progressive policy structures, gaming can spur a second software revolution in India. As of today, this industry offers direct employment to almost 50,000 people. It is also a major source of taxation for the exchequer. In addition, the sector has multiplier benefits for several other domains including fintech, banking, semiconductors, animation, and other aspects of Information Technology. The sector has witnessed significant investments from marquee international investors and accounts of several Unicorns. With the right encouragement and support, India can emerge as a global pioneer in gaming technology. Ankur Singh, CEO and Founder, Witzeal We believe that the gaming sector will continue to expand with the high end adoption of AI and data science to understand and provide users experiences they wish for. Future of gaming will likely be based upon newer technologies like Blockchain and its active usage would prove fruitful in the years to come. Another key trend to look forward to is the penetration of gaming in rural areas because the penetration of internet and smartphones is on a gradual rise. Yashash Agarwal, Co-Founder and CEO, <keyword id="3212361" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gamezop" source="Orion">Gamezop</keyword> <div type="image" title="RIC_8498" msid="88758667" hostid="261"></div> Blockchain gaming is shaping up to be a very interesting space. We are already seeing very interesting games emerge with blockchain and NFTs at the heart of all the action. Games like Axie Infinity have popularized the Play to Earn mechanic and they have been able to scale engagement as well as monetization to huge numbers. Take it one step further and we see that decentralization is fundamentally changing how companies operate: all the way from raising money, to day-to-day governance. This is most notable in DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organisations), which follow a bottom-up, community-driven management style. We are excited to see the blockchain gaming projects that emerge from India! Vaibhav Odhekar, COO &amp; Co-Founder, <keyword id="2734866" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="POKKT" source="Orion">POKKT</keyword> The gaming industry is constantly evolving, and its popularity will continue to rise. In the last three years, the sector has welcomed 500 million new gamers globally. New technological breakthroughs such as virtual reality have provided another dimension towards entertainment in this domain. For many young folks, the industry has also become a viable career option. Talking about the trends- The audience will continue to diversify in the coming years. So, instead of a male/female audience bias, we'll have a nearly 50-50 gender split, with a lot more older people joining the online gaming space. India is expected to create more global content. Although the percentage is extremely low right now, as more high-quality content is created in India, the trend will improve. Also, e-Sports as a category will grow in popularity. In 2022, there will be a significant increase in the number of movies released worldwide. So, the biggest trend we anticipate to see is a lot more games based on movie franchises. Gaming has its own history of adapting films and gamers are enthralled by such games. Video games are a vast medium that covers a wide variety of genres and experiences that can only be experienced in games, along with contributions from a population from all over the world. Even while many modern games are inspired by movies, they are nevertheless unique in their own way and we expect them to expand in the coming years.

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Your life is worth about $3 million in a rocket accident, according to the FAA. Here's how the agency got that number - and why auditors say it's a problem.

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The FAA made SpaceX boost its accident insurance 33-fold, to $100 million, before Starhopper's last launch. Here's why.

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