Virtual reality (VR) headsets have no safety requirements in India, even as companies like Apple and Meta gear up to sell more and more such headsets in India. According to official correspondence reviewed by The Hindu under the Right to Information Act, the government has not yet devised standards to protect users who put on VR headsets, which occupy a user’s entire field of vision with a display.
VR headsets are used predominantly in gaming, but firms like Meta and Apple see promise in creating a ‘metaverse,’ an alternate space online where people can interact with avatars; and in general computing.
According to a report by the India Brand Equity Foundation, an initiative by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the VR and so-called augmented reality (AR) industries together may increase their market value to $14.07 billion by 2027. Augmented reality is used to superimpose virtual elements in real time in the real world, such as ‘filters’ on apps like Instagram.
