Corporates, states must champion sports: Amitabh Kant

Mumbai: Amitabh Kant, India's G20 Sherpa and former CEO of Niti Aayog, has highlighted the need for increased private sector investment and state-level ownership of sports to foster the growth of India's burgeoning sports industry, valued at $52 billion and projected to reach $130 billion by 2030.

"We need to involve the private sector and the Indian states. Every state must own up one sport and create champions," Kant said, adding that government spending on sports is expected to rise. The union government allocated ₹3,442.32 crore for sports for 2024-25.

Kant stressed creating a grassroots movement to universalise sports and physical activity. "We can't be a $30 trillion economy without universalisation of access to sport," he said, emphasising the need for a healthy and active population to secure India's demographic advantage beyond 2037.


He also proposed reserving 25% of college admissions for students excelling in sports to nurture talent. Universities, he noted, act as hubs for developing Olympians in countries like the US and China.

Speaking after unveiling the Sports Forward Nation report by Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kant underlined that India's aspirations to host the 2036 Olympics must go beyond infrastructure to producing medallists in various sports. The report outlines commerce, tech, performance, and social impact as pillars for India to achieve global sports excellence by 2047.

We endeavour to bring together the most influential individuals in the sports industry to catalyse discussion and explore possibilities for making India an active, healthy, premier sporting nation. The power of their collective ideas has served to curate this report," said RCB COO Rajesh Menon.

Kant also called for IPL-style leagues in non-cricket sports to expand the industry.