Mumbai: Delivering his theme address at CII Scorecard 2018 forum, Sanjay Gupta, MD Star India, took pride in magnitude of change brought by the Khelo India initiative in matter of just one year, a grassroots sports program to promote School Games which was instituted by Star India along with Sports Ministry.
Mr Gupta took parallels with the growing popularity of the biggest sporting spectacle IPL that reached a new high in 2018 and said, “Over 70 crore fans came in to enjoy IPL – 70 crore! Compare this to the number of people who voted in the 2014 LokSabha elections, the biggest elections that India has even seen, of 55 crore. And they all spent a lot more time, glued to their television sets or mobile screens, enjoying this spectacle. Such a growth in an established sport like cricket is truly remarkable.”
He listed that there are now over 15 domestic leagues in the country – across Kabaddi, Football, Wrestling, Boxing, and Badminton – from just 2 events five years back.
Sanjay highlighted the potential of Sports industry and its ability to contribute towards country’s GDP saying, “The sports start-up ecosystem is buzzing with activity. Entrepreneurs are building business models across the breadth and depth of sports – from eduSports that enables schools to adopt sports education, Anthill Creations that creates cost effective play areas in unused spaces, ‘Sports For All’ to GoSporto that gives people access to playgrounds around them. This has all resulted in a step change in the sports industry, which has growth from $1.3 bn to $2.7 bn in just a matter of five years. And in my mind, this journey has only begun. Sports is still at 0.1% share of our GDP, while globally the industry is sized at ~0.5% of GDP share. Given where we are, we have the momentum to become a $10 bn industry in the next 5 to 7 years.”
Listing out the growing participation of large corporations towards Sports Industry and roadmap to improve the infrastructure for the industry, Mr Gupta added, “CII has created a “Making India Play’ fund, to enable corporates to explore opportunities to invest in the sports ecosystem. And large corporates have already shown interest and committed their support on this – some of whom are in this very room, from Tata Trust, HCL, Ambuja Cements, Bharti Foundation and ACC. Overall contribution towards CSR is close to $1.8 bn or ~Rs. 12,000 cr. every year. Even if we invest half this fund, Rs. 6,000 cr. towards building this infrastructure and capabilities, we will be able to touch 12 cr. kids in the first year itself. Over the next few years, we will be able to reach out to every single kid in the country. It can truly catapult sports to another orbit.”
While batting that sports is good for society, Mr Gupta attributed that private enterprise has proven that sports is good for business as well and said, “All these leagues have all managed to find a place for themselves with the people of this country. They are watching them in their homes on TV or on their mobile phones on their daily commute on buses, local trains, and taxis. Brands are coming in, starting to ascribe real value to the impact that sport delivers by putting in sponsorship money. IPL, our largest league, is valued at $5.3 bn today.”
Sanjay concluded urging all stakeholders across the country to invest their CSR fund towards building sports and make it a movement by making young India play.
