Winning bet: India Inc players also ace the sports game
sports teams in India saw an up to threefold surge in earnings in 2023-24, with cricket dominating the table, according to the latest filings of their owners such as Reliance Industries, United Spirits, Tata Steel and RPSG Ventures.
These companies, which run the sports teams as business ventures through subsidiaries, benefited from a larger central revenue pool of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), showed the filings. The revenue pool mainly comprises money earned by the BCCI from selling the broadcasting rights and a portion of it is shared among the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams.
For instance, the total income of Reliance Industries' wholly owned subsidiary Indiawin Sports, which owns the Mumbai Indians cricket team, more than doubled to ₹737 crore in 2023-24 from ₹359 crore in the previous fiscal. The company's net profit was ₹110 crore, compared to a net loss of ₹49 crore in 2022-23. The central rights accounted for three-fourths of the revenue in 2023-24, while nearly 22% came from ticketing sales, said the annual report of Reliance Industries.
Similarly, United Spirits Ltd disclosed in its latest annual report that revenue from its IPL team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, increased 163% year-on-year to ₹650 crore in 2023-24. The venture became profitable during the year, raking in a net profit of ₹222 crore, compared to a net loss of ₹15 crore in the previous year, again driven by an increase in the central rights income.
A Mixed Bag
United Spirits, maker of Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie
