On Friday the Sports Ministry told federations they can claim up to USD 5.7 million (INR 50 crore) to host an international event, twenty-five times the old ceiling. The statutory board meant to police those federations has no chairperson, no members and, fifteen months after the Act passed, no powers.
The Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations now carries USD 839 million (INR 7,386.74 crore) to 2030-31. The Cabinet approved it on 31 July. What landed on 16 October was the instruction manual — and the line that matters raised the event-hosting grant from USD 227,000 (INR 2 crore) to USD 5.7 million (INR 50 crore) per federation. Who decides? A committee headed by the Secretary (Sports), which the guidelines allow to set its own procedures.
Parliament passed a law to govern exactly these federations fifteen months ago. The National Sports Board it created has not been appointed. More to the point, the clause that would give it powers has never been brought into force.
| Provision of the 2025 Act | What it does | In force? |
|---|---|---|
| Sections 4, 5, 14, 15 | Constitutes the Board; the Sports Tribunal; the election panel | Yes — 1 Jan 2026 |
| Sections 7, 18, 19, 21 | Further machinery provisions | Yes — 12 May 2026 |
| Section 6 | All ten of the Board’s powers | No |
| Sections 8 and 10 | Recognising, suspending and cancelling federations | No |
| Section 9 | Inquiries into athlete welfare and misuse of public funds | No |
| Section 13 | India’s Safe Sports Policy | No |
Television ratings have not been published in India since 2 July. A home Test series against Australia is being sold with no independent audience number in the market. TV advertising activity is down 8.6%; digital is up 24.5%.
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Three golds in Aichi on 4 October, the most India has ever won. On 13 October the president of the Boxing Federation of India suspended his secretary general. Within 48 hours the secretary general had suspended him back.
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FIFA's USD 25 million (INR 220 crore) per member association goes to a Congress vote on the same day it elects its president. Meanwhile the ISL claims 65 million opening-week views from a source nobody has named.
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The Asian Para Games open tomorrow. India sent 303 athletes to Hangzhou and won 111 medals. This time it sends 168 — and spends 37 paise in the rupee, per head, of what the able-bodied team got.
Read the full story — 8 min →USD 4.5 million (INR 40 crore) of Indian Oil CSR money goes into boxing over two years, under a 13 October memorandum with the National Sports Development Fund and the Sports Authority of India. It is a government channel, not a federation sponsorship — and it was signed the same day BFI's secretary general wrote to the Prime Minister.
India's best-supported club announced four new commercial partners for the ISL season — an ice cream brand, a steel bar maker, a tools company and a broadband provider. No value or duration was disclosed for any of the four. That is the item.
HSBC joined the DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club as a premium partner. The event carries a USD 4 million (INR 35 crore) purse, the largest for a DP World Tour tournament in India, and funds qualifying-school support of up to INR 3 lakh each for the top 30 PGTI players. HSBC's own fee is undisclosed.
Hero MotoCorp's electric brand titles India's 12-match tour of New Zealand, which starts on 22 October — New Zealand Cricket's largest incoming tour. Brokered by TCM Sports, NZC's naming-rights partner to 2031. Announced on 15 September; the fee has never been disclosed.
Virat Kohli used a LinkedIn debut on 13 October to explain the bet he made last December: INR 40 crore of his own money for 1.94% of Agilitas Sports, which bought his one8 brand. Agilitas is reportedly valued near INR 2,058 crore. He turned down a Puma renewal reported at INR 300 crore to take equity instead.
Stephen Ross sold 2.1% of his Miami sports group to EQT chairman Jean Eric Salata at a USD 12.5 billion (INR 1.10 lakh crore) valuation — an NFL record for a minority stake. It covers the Dolphins, Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Grand Prix and the group's Miami Open interest. Forbes values the same bundle at USD 7.5 billion (INR 66,000 crore).
The IOC abolished 12 of its 31 standing commissions on 16 October, leaving 19, and will convene ad hoc expert panels instead. Among those closed: Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; the Advisory Committee on Human Rights; Sustainability; Technology. No cost saving was disclosed and the surviving nineteen were not named.
Spain's women's league budgeted a record USD 37 million (INR 326 crore) for 2026-27 — USD 24 million (INR 211 crore) of which rests on a Pau Gasol-backed deal it has still not signed. Gasol16 Ventures would put in up to USD 62 million (INR 546 crore) for 35 to 49% of commercial revenues over 25 years. Liga F's broadcast tender drew zero bids in August. Projected profit: USD 158,000 (INR 1.4 crore).
King Power set a GBP 225 million asking price (about USD 302 million, INR 2,654 crore) and a Friday bid deadline for Leicester City, advised by Citi. It paid GBP 35 million for the club in 2010, won the Premier League in 2016, and now sits 17th in League One after two successive relegations. Bidders have not been named.
SportBusiness puts global sports media rights at a record USD 65.8 billion (INR 5.79 lakh crore) in 2026 — then falling to USD 62.2 billion in 2027. The United States takes 53.9% of it, over USD 35 billion (INR 3.08 lakh crore). The top ten sports hold 99% of all value. The strongest growth projections anywhere are the Indian subcontinent and Australia.
England’s new football regulator has published a 244-page financial X-ray of its own game: 109 of 116 clubs loss-making, GBP 1.7 billion of losses, 32 clubs with less than 30 days of cash. India has eleven tiers of football and cannot produce a single aggregate loss figure.
In 2026-27 only two of India’s ten tier boundaries were settled by playing football. Entry to the fourth tier is by state-association nomination — eighteen of twenty clubs arrived that way last season. The top boundary was settled by an unpaid invoice of INR 55 lakh.
The business and machinery of Indian sport. Every Saturday, 7pm IST. Every number links to its source.
