Hong Kong-based lottery technology supplier AGTech Holdings has inked a joint venture deal to enter India’s online gaming market.

On Monday, AGTech announced that its AGTech Media subsidiary had entered into a partnership with Paytm Group, an offshoot of Indian payment processing and e-commerce firm Paytm Holding, to develop and operate platforms for online and mobile games. AGTech will hold 45% of the JV while Paytm will control the remaining 55%.

AGTech, which primarily provides retail technology to China’s provincial lottery administrators, is owned by Alibaba Holding and Ant Financial, and Paytm is an associate of the latter company, making the JV a connected transaction.

The JV partners will make an initial investment of around $16m to fund the development of online and mobile games tailored for the Indian market. AGTech has some experience in developing games for Chinese customers, including virtual sports products via a separate JV with UK bookmakers Ladbrokes, while Paytm will use its massive distribution network (spanning 225m users in India) to ensure the widest possible exposure for the JV’s new products.