If you have ever searched why PUBG banned in India, the short answer is data privacy and geopolitics — not gameplay. India blocked PUBG Mobile in September 2020 under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing national security concerns tied to its Chinese publisher Tencent. The PC version of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS was never formally banned, but the story still shapes how Krafton operates in India today.
Here’s what actually happened, what it means for PUBG PC players, and where the situation stands now.
The 2020 PUBG Ban: What Actually Happened
On September 2, 2020, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) banned 118 mobile apps, including PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite. The order followed an earlier June 2020 ban on 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok.
The government cited that the apps were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”
The trigger was a mix of two things:
- The Galwan Valley clash in June 2020 between Indian and Chinese troops, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and sharply escalated tensions.
- Data privacy concerns — specifically, allegations that user data was being sent to servers outside India, including to China.
The Tencent Problem
The core issue was ownership. PUBG Mobile in India was published by Tencent Games, the Chinese tech giant. Even though PUBG was originally developed by Krafton (a South Korean company), Tencent held the mobile publishing rights for many international markets.
Once India cracked down on Chinese-linked apps after Galwan, PUBG Mobile was always going to be caught in the net.
Key point: PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS on PC and consoles was never officially banned in India. The ban targeted the Tencent-published mobile app, not Krafton’s PC title. PC players in India kept playing without interruption.
What Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar Said
In a 2023 podcast with Ranveer Allahbadia, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar confirmed the reasoning directly.
He stated PUBG was banned because of data safety, privacy, and national security concerns linked to the way user data was being handled and where it was flowing. He also used the moment to preview India’s upcoming online gaming rules, which now regulate what platforms can legally operate in the country.
That’s the official position from the Indian government: it was never about violence in the game or “gaming addiction” headlines. It was about who controlled the data.
Krafton’s Response: BGMI and the Rebrand
Krafton moved fast. It cut Tencent out of the India picture, took over publishing rights itself, and launched a rebranded version called Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in July 2021, built specifically for Indian users with:
- Servers hosted in India and Singapore
- Data compliance tailored to Indian law
- Toned-down visuals (green hit effects instead of red blood)
- Age-gating and playtime restrictions for minors
BGMI ran successfully for about a year — then got blocked again in July 2022, reportedly over lingering data-routing concerns. It was eventually restored in May 2023 after Krafton made further compliance changes.
Timeline of Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2020 | Galwan Valley clash; India bans 59 Chinese apps |
| September 2, 2020 | PUBG Mobile banned in India among 118 apps |
| July 2, 2021 | BGMI launches as Krafton-published replacement |
| July 28, 2022 | BGMI blocked by Google Play and App Store |
| May 2023 | BGMI restored after compliance changes |
| 2023 | Minister Chandrasekhar confirms data privacy as the reason |
Does Any of This Affect PUBG PC in India?
Practically speaking, no. PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS on Steam has been continuously available to Indian players throughout the entire ban saga. If you’re grinding ranked, learning pubg tips and tricks, or dropping into pubg erangel map hot zones from India, none of the 2020 mobile ban applies to you.
That said, the ban shaped the Indian PUBG scene in a few real ways:
- The competitive audience shifted heavily toward mobile/BGMI esports, leaving PC PUBG a smaller but dedicated community in India.
- Krafton invested in India directly — the company has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Indian gaming and esports startups.
- PGC representation from India remains thin on PC compared to Korea, China and Europe.
If you’re new to the PC version, our pubg beginner guide walks through the fundamentals that differ sharply from the mobile game most Indians grew up on.
PC vs Mobile: Why the Ban Never Touched Steam
A few PC players still ask us if their accounts are at risk. They aren’t. Here’s why the two products are legally distinct:
- PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (PC) is published globally by Krafton itself via Steam.
- PUBG Mobile was licensed to Tencent, which handled distribution, servers and monetisation in India.
- The MeitY order named specific apps, not the franchise as a whole.
That distinction is why you can still fine-tune your pubg best weapons and attachments loadouts on Steam, learn pubg secret locations on Miramar, or grind ranked without a VPN.
The Bottom Line
Why was PUBG banned in India? Because the mobile version was published by Tencent, and post-Galwan India blocked Chinese-linked apps over data privacy and national security concerns — not gameplay content. PUBG PC was never part of that order.
Open questions that still matter:
- Whether India’s new online gaming rules will impose fresh compliance demands on Krafton
- How much longer the BGMI-vs-PUBG-Mobile brand split lasts globally
- Whether the PC scene in India can grow back toward PGC-level competition