Pokémon in South Asia

The Pokémon franchise (Hindi: पोकेमोन, Tamil: போகிமொன், Telegu: పోకీమాన్, Urdu: پوکيمون) made its debut in the  in 2003, with the broadcast of the first anime episode in both English and Hindi on. In Pakistan, the anime aired on.

Pokémon games
While Nintendo has no official market presence in the Indian subcontinent, the Pokémon games and some Pokémon merchandise, as well as other products such as consoles and games, are available on online retail stores.

were available in India just a week after the US release.

Pokémon anime
The Pokémon anime is available in the following South Asian territories:, , , , , and.

Cartoon Network and Pogo
Pokémon: Indigo League premiered on on May 12, 2003 as a part of its  block. Following the first season, Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands made its Indian debut in late 2003 and ended its run in mid-2004. In the same year, Pokémon: The Johto Journeys premiered on Cartoon Network. A separate feed affiliated with Cartoon Network India was launched for the Pakistani audience in 2004, and was also later made available in Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Due to this affiliation, both channels broadcast the anime simultaneously. With Pokémon: Master Quest, Cartoon Network India introduced two additional dubs, Tamil and Telugu. The concluded its first complete run in mid-2005.

The first two seasons of the, Pokémon: Advanced and Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, made their South Asian debut in 2006. While 2008 marked the first run for Pokémon: Advanced Battle and Pokémon: Battle Frontier in the respective territories. Unlike its predecessors, the ninth season aired on Cartoon Network Pakistan two weeks after its Indian debut. Furthermore, Cartoon Network introduced a one-hour block, Dastaan-e-Pokémon, that aired reruns from the first seven seasons.

The first season of the premiered in Pakistan on November 9, 2009, making it the first season to air on the network before its debut on Cartoon Network India, which aired it a week later. Cartoon Network Pakistan skipped 23 episodes, from O'er the Rampardos We Watched! to A Stand-Up Sit-Down!, due to unknown reasons and wrapped up the season in mere five weeks. However, the episodes were aired in their correct order during reruns. In early 2011, after an eight-year run on Cartoon Network India, the channel dropped Pokémon anime after finishing Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension's first run.

Later on, the anime was picked up by Cartoon Network India's sister channel,. The channel aired Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles and Pokémon DP: Sinnoh League Victors in 2011. However, The Fleeing Tower Of Sunyshore! and Teaching the Student Teacher! were skipped and aired later during reruns. In 2013, Pogo premiered the fourteenth season of the anime and some creative changes were made along with it, including new voice actors for the narrator and Delia Ketchum and several moves retained their English names. The Dragon Master's Path! and Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia! were skipped, but they were later broadcast during reruns.

On June 27, 2014, announced through its official Facebook page that Pokémon would be returning to Cartoon Network. The channel began airing Pokémon: Black & White until Mewoth's Scrafty Tactics, from July 2 to August 6. It later finished the season's first run by airing it at a late-night time slot. The premiered on Cartoon Network Pakistan in the same year.

Hungama TV and Disney XD India
Around the beginning of 2014, bought the rights to Pokémon. However, Disney did not acquire the rights for the anime's previous Hindi dub, so the anime was re-dubbed.

With Pokémon, I Choose You!, Hungama TV began airing the on May 19, 2014. Starting with the second season, the channel began to include the Who's That Pokémon? segment in episodes. As with the Cartoon Network airings, several episodes were skipped or aired out of order. During the third season, the channel also started using [[Media:Pokémon logo Southeast Asia.png|a red logo]] for Pokémon, instead of [[Media:Pokémon logo English.png|the yellow one]] used internationally. Some episodes of the third season were aired with additional Tamil and Telegu dubs, but not all episodes were dubbed in those languages until Johto League Champions. From Two Hits and a Miss to The Joy of Water Pokémon, Hungama TV skipped parts of the episode before the title card, including the theme song. Disney XD began airing reruns of episodes that had already aired on Hungama TV with the first 10 episodes of Pokémon: Indigo League on August 7, 2016.

The remaining original series episodes would later be aired as part of the sixth season starting on August 31, 2015, while the Hoenn portion of Pokémon: Advanced aired on Hungama TV from September 16, 2015 to November 18, 2015. From February 15, 2016 to April 28, 2016, episodes from Pokémon: Advanced Challenge premiered on Hungama TV. In addition, throughout the anime's run on Hungama, a number of new blocks were introduced that were dedicated exclusively to the series, including PokéThon, PokéVaar, and PakdoThon. Although Disney XD India had previously only aired the first seven seasons which had premiered first on Hungama TV, new episodes moved to Disney XD India with episodes of Pokémon: Advanced Battle from May 7, 2018 to October 2018. Disney XD aired episodes from Pokémon: Battle Frontier from November 12 to 16, 2018, skipping Home is Where the Start Is!.

On May 24, 2017, Prasad Barve announced that he will reprise his role as Ash starting with the. Disney XD aired episodes from Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl from November 12 to 20, 2018.

The first two episodes of Pokémon the Series: XY, Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin and Lumoise City Pursuit, debuted on Hungama TV on May 9, 2015 without a prior announcement. The network announced more new episodes from, which later aired alongside the channel's first run of the earlier seasons. Similar to previous instances, the episode title cards were skipped and [[Media:Pokémon XY logo Southeast Asia.png|a new logo]] was used for the series. After a month-long hiatus, Hungama TV resumed airing new episodes on August 1, 2015 with A PokéVision of Things to Come!. It completed the initial run of the season on November 14, 2015.

Voot
In India, the Disney dubs of the and part of the  are available on, a streaming service by Viacom 18, making it the first time the anime has been available through a streaming service in India. Episodes from the first and second season are available in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu; while episodes from the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons are only available in English and Hindi. The Hindi dub of the eighth season premiered on the service before it aired on Disney XD.

Pokémon movies and specials
On November 14, 2006, Cartoon Network India aired Mewtwo Returns as a part of its Children's Day programming.

Cartoon Network began airing Pokémon Chronicles on June 11, 2009. That year, the movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew also premiered on both Cartoon Network India and Pakistan. The movie Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea premiered on Cartoon Network Pakistan in 2009, but would not debut on Cartoon Network India until the following year. Cartoon Network India has aired several Pikachu shorts; however, they were not aired alongside their accompanying movies. The Pikachu shorts Christmas Night and Kanga Games were aired together as Pikachu's Winter Vacations. The shorts Winter Games and Pikachu & Pichu were also aired together.

In 2011, Cartoon Network and Pogo TV aired The Rise of Darkrai. Starting in 2014, the movie aired on Tata Sky's CN+ service. That year, Cartoon Network Pakistan also aired the movies Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life, as well as Zoroark - Master of Illusions in 2012. However, these three movies have yet to air in India.

Hungama TV has so far aired the first eight movies and the tenth and eleventh movies. Many scenes, including the opening and ending themes, are often skipped. Despite the fact that Hungama TV airs material provided by TPCi for the anime episodes, the Hindi dub for the first eight movies used footage from the Japanese version. Disney XD India also airs the Hungama dub of the Pokémon movies.

Mega Evolution Special I aired on November 21, 2015.

I Choose You! will be released in Indian cinemas on February 2, 2019, making it the first Pokémon movie to be released in theaters in India. The  movie will be released in Indian cinemas on May 10, 2019.

Music
Like most dubs based on the English dub, the Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu dubs under both Cartoon Network and Hungama TV generally dub the original English openings into the respective language. Songs used in episodes have also been dubbed.

From the middle of the second run of the season, Cartoon Network replaced the opening with an original Hindi song.

Hungama TV has made a Pokérap as an ending theme for the anime series and the movies. They also made Pokéraps for the Orange Islands, Johto, and Hoenn arcs to promote upcoming seasons of Pokémon.

Although Hungama TV normally skips the Japanese opening and ending themes of the movies entirely, a few seconds from the instrumental version of バトルフロンティア （映画バージョン）  (Movie Version) were used on a loop, serving as the opening theme for its dub of the eighth movie. An instrumental version of This is a Beautiful World was used as the ending theme to the eleventh movie.

Pokémon manga
English-translated Pokémon manga was distributed in India by Chuang Yi. It is also available on online stores such as Amazon.

Pokémon merchandise

 * Pokémon was an instant hit in India and was one of the number one kids shows on TV. Due to its huge popularity, many pirated Pokémon products are sold in India.
 * Pokémon were available in India, with  and the starter Pokémon of Unova region.
 * Pokémon collectibles were available for free in snack packs.
 * On the Toonami block, Cartoon Network hosted a contest titled "Toonami-Game On Video Game Championship" in 2006, with Pokémon merchandise given out as prizes.
 * Pokémon toys were available as toy gifts of s. These toys were spoons featuring Pikachu and other starters. different set of small figures of, , , , , , , and  were made available in Happy Meals in November 2018. Unlike the previous promotion, it was advertised by McDonald's.
 * Pokémon Black and White merchandise is available in India from Reliance Home video and games.
 * Pokémon XY merchandise is launched in India by Dreamtheatre, available in physical stores and online sites such as and.
 * Pokémon merchandise like books, toys, etc are available on on-ground shops as well as online sites.
 * Pichkaris (Water Guns) were available during 2014 and 2015.
 * Pokémon Kites were available for sale.
 * A Pokémon contest was held by Hungama TV in 2015, which gave out Pokémon merchandise as prizes.
 * Pokémon XY Products/toys with the original logo are distributed by Funskool India.
 * Pokémon Evolution Cards and 3D figurines of, the Kanto starter Pokémon, and Jigglypuff were distributed with the breakfast cereal.
 * Pokémon cards and cutouts are distributed with Gems and other products.