Meet man whose Rs 66,500 crore firm has been served Rs 25,000 crore tax notice

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence has issued pre-showcause notices to several other online gaming raising a tax demand of approximately Rs 55,000 crore, according to an Economic Times report. Of this, the largest GST notice of Rs 25000 crore has been served to market leader Dream11, co-founded by Mumbai-based businessman Harsh Jain and college friend Bhavit Sheth. Harsh serves as CEO while Bhavit is the COO.

The notice served to Dream11 could possibly be the biggest indirect tax notice served by authorities in India's history. Others issued pre-show cause demands include Play Games24x7 (Rs 20,000 crore) and Head Digital Works (Rs 5,000 crore). Dream11 has moved Bombay High Court in the wake of the massive pre-show cause notice, the ET report further added citing industry sources.

Who is Harsh Jain, Dream11 co-founder and CEO?

Jain is one of the pioneers of the cricket fantasy gaming industry in India. His company Dream11’s rise has been synonymous with the popularity of IPL. Dream11 is valued at $8 billion (over Rs 66,500 crore as of today). Its gaming platform has more than 150 million users. An avid cricket fan, Jain was turned down by as many as 150 venture capitalists in two years with none backing his idea.

Jain serves as the CEO (Culture Enforcement Officer) of Dream11. He is married and reportedly lives in a luxury duplex apartment worth Rs 72 crore in south Mumbai’s Peddar Road in 2021. He has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and MBA from Columbia Business School, Columbia University in the US.