India’s sports business to hit $100 billion in 5 years: Report

The sports sector in India – comprising media rights, apparel, sports nutrition, sports equipment etc -- as an industry is likely to go up five times to reach a value of $100 billion by 2027 from $27 billion in 2020, finds a new report. 

Brokerage firm Anand Rathi Investment Banking’s report said a majority of this is being led by the Indian Premier League (IPL), with over nine million viewers which has commercialised and scaled successfully. 

Additionally, the Indian sports media market size was $1 billion in 2020 and is estimated to grow over $13.4 bn by 2027. 

The global media rights market is $52.1 bn where market share of cricket grew from 2.7% to 3.0%; football continues to hold the pole position at 42%. In 2019 though, it said the market size was $30-31 billion and the slowdown in certain segments of the sports industry were offset by the growth in gaming and nutraceuticals. And while it was still growing, the report said that the sports industry in the country continues to face challenges such as lack of infrastructure, high taxes levied on sports equipment and events and the lack of financing and governance.   

The report added that India is one of the largest manufacturers of sports goods and equipment in Asia after China & Japan and that the sports goods market was worth $4.5 billion in 2020 and is estimated to grow to $6.6 billion by 2027. 

Additionally, it said, the Indian sports apparel market was worth $14 billion in 2020 and is estimated to grow to $21 billion by 2023, largely growing on the back of menswear products.