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Industry brief · Sports

Sport in India, where our guest builds

One Building Real guest works in sport: Sunil J. Mathew, founder and head coach of the Indian Blind Football Federation, which runs India's blind football programme. This brief covers what is happening around him in India: government budgets and sports law, the money brands put into sport, and how para-sport is faring.

India
Checked 16 Oct 2026 · every figure linked to its source · next review Jan 2027

01At a glance

Rs 4,479.88 cr

for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the 2026-27 Union Budget1. That is about 18% more than the original 2025-26 budget of Rs 3,794.30 crore2.

Budget estimate. The ministry also funds youth programmes, so not all of this goes to sport.
Rs 36,441 cr

combined outlay approved for a revamped Khelo India scheme and enhanced assistance to National Sports Federations, for 2026-27 to 2030-313.

Five years and two programmes combined. Not a yearly figure.
29

medals for India at the Paris 2024 Paralympics (7 gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze), a record, with a record 84 athletes in 12 sports4.

39

medals for India at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games (13 gold, 17 silver, 9 bronze), finishing fourth. The 10-sport programme included six fully integrated para sports5.

Final tally.
52

para core athletes supported by the Target Olympic Podium Scheme as of April 2026, alongside 51 core athletes and 130 development athletes6.

A headcount, not a rupee figure.
Rs 500 cr

earmarked in the 2026-27 Budget for sports goods manufacturing, the first dedicated allocation of its kind7.

02How AI and digital are reshaping it

AI: what the government says and plans

  • Talent scouting. The Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) programme assesses children aged 9-18. The government says it uses AI and data analytics, and reports 1,87,921 assessments at 174 Talent Assessment Centres8.
  • Policy. The National Sports Policy 2025 aims to use emerging technologies, including AI and data analytics, for performance tracking, research and programme delivery9.
  • Data platform. The revamped Khelo India scheme for 2026-31 plans a unified digital platform bringing together athlete data, infrastructure, competitions, assessments and funding10.
These are statements of intent and descriptions from the government. No independent evaluation of outcomes has been published.

Digital: where sports advertising is growing

Sports advertising spend in India, 2025 (WPP Media)

TV
Rs 5,117 cr
Digital
Rs 4,449 cr

Digital is the fastest-growing part of sports advertising in India. Digital spend grew 24% to Rs 4,449 crore in 2025, against 16.4% growth for TV to Rs 5,117 crore11.

03Where the money is moving

Brand money: advertising, sponsorship and endorsements

Rs 18,864 cr

spent on sports advertising, sponsorship and athlete endorsements in India in 2025, up 13.4% from Rs 16,633 crore in 2024. By WPP Media's count, that is the first time it has crossed US$2 billion12.

89%

of that tracked spending went to cricket in 2025 (Rs 16,704 crore), up from 85% in 202413.

Rs 7,943 cr

in sports sponsorship in 2025, up 7% and 42% of WPP's tracked total, even though real-money gaming brands left the market after the 2025 ban14.

  • Gaming exit. Fantasy platform Dream11 lost its India team shirt deal (about Rs 3.6 billion, or US$44 million, over three years, running through 2026) after India banned real-money online games, including fantasy sports, in August 202515.
WPP Media counts only advertising, sponsorship and athlete endorsements. These figures are not the size of Indian sport as a whole and do not share a base with the government budgets beside them.

Government money: allocations, not spending

Sports ministry budget (Rs crore)

2025-26 original
3,794.30
2025-26 revised
3,346.54
2026-27 budget
4,479.88

The 2026-27 allocation of Rs 4,479.88 crore is Rs 685.58 crore (about 18%) more than the 2025-26 Budget Estimate of Rs 3,794.30 crore. It looks like a much bigger jump only against the 2025-26 Revised Estimate of Rs 3,346.54 crore, which was cut back because the ministry did not spend its full budget12.

Khelo India budget (Rs crore)

2025-26 original
1,000
2025-26 revised
700
2026-27 budget
924.35

Khelo India gets Rs 924.35 crore in 2026-27. That is more than the Rs 700 crore it was revised down to in 2025-26, but less than that year's original Rs 1,000 crore budget16.

  • Five-year deal. The Union Cabinet approved a revamped Khelo India scheme together with enhanced assistance to National Sports Federations, with a combined outlay of Rs 36,441 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-313.
  • Infrastructure. As of July 2026, Khelo India had approved 349 sports infrastructure projects worth Rs 3,176 crore and set up 1,067 Khelo India Centres since the scheme began in 201717.
  • Commonwealth Games. The 2026-27 Budget sets aside Rs 50 crore for Commonwealth Games preparation, up from Rs 28.05 crore in the 2025-26 revised estimate18.
The combined five-year outlay is not a yearly amount and should not be set against the yearly budget lines. None of the sources we checked gives a separate rupee figure for para-sport.

04Governments and rules

  1. National Sports Policy. The Union Cabinet approved the National Sports Policy 2025 (Khelo Bharat Niti), replacing the 2001 policy and naming the 2036 Olympic Games as a target19.
  2. Real-money gaming ban. India banned real-money online games, including fantasy sports. Dream11 then lost its India team shirt deal15.
  3. Sports Governance Act notified. The National Sports Governance Act, 2025 was notified20.
  4. Draft rules. The sports ministry published draft rules under the 2025 Act covering federation elections, tenure and disqualification norms, a governance role for Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit, and a National Sports Tribunal. This moves federations from self-regulation towards statutory oversight21.
  5. Act partly in force. Selected provisions, including those for the National Sports Board and National Sports Tribunal, came into force20.
  6. Budget 2026-27. The Budget launched a Khelo India Mission, a decade-long plan, with stated targets of making India a top-10 sporting nation by 2036 and top-5 by 204722. These are targets, not forecasts.
  7. Khelo India revamp approved. The Union Cabinet approved a revamped Khelo India scheme with enhanced assistance to National Sports Federations, a combined outlay of Rs 36,441 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-313.

05Trends to watch

Para-sport is on the main stage

India's Paralympic medal count rose from 4 at Rio 2016 to 19 at Tokyo 2020 and 29 at Paris 202423. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme now supports 52 para core athletes alongside 51 core athletes6, and Glasgow 2026 included six fully integrated para sports in a 10-sport programme5.

Bigger budgets, uneven spending

The sports ministry's 2026-27 allocation is about 18% above the original 2025-26 budget2. But in 2025-26 the ministry's budget was revised down from Rs 3,794.30 crore to Rs 3,346.54 crore, with Khelo India cut from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 700 crore, and KPMG says the Khelo India Mission's success will depend on coordination, governance and capacity rather than money alone24.

Federations under statute

Parts of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, including those for the National Sports Board and National Sports Tribunal, came into force on 1 January 202620. Draft rules cover federation elections, tenure and disqualification, moving federations from self-regulation towards statutory oversight21.

Gaming money out, sponsorship still up

India banned real-money online games in August 2025 and Dream11 lost its India team shirt deal15. Sports sponsorship still grew 7% to Rs 7,943 crore in 2025, by WPP Media's count14.

Cricket holds the money, digital grows fastest

Cricket took 89% of WPP Media's tracked sports spending in 2025, up from 85% in 202413. In advertising, digital grew 24% to Rs 4,449 crore, against 16.4% growth for TV to Rs 5,117 crore11.

06The problems our guests are solving

Sunil J. Mathew on Building RealEP07
India

Sunil J. Mathew · Indian Blind Football Federation

Fourth

In IBSA's 2026 world ranking, India's women's blind football team is fourth in the world, behind Japan, England and Argentina, and its men's team is 11th. In the 2025 ranking the women were second25.

  • A small field. India's women won silver at the 2026 IBSA Asian Championships in Osaka, losing 0-2 to Japan in the final. Only three teams took part26. According to the federation, it hosted the 2025 IBSA Women's Blind Football World Championship in Kochi, the first held in India, where India finished fifth of eight teams27.
  • Funding. None of the sources we checked gives a rupee figure for para-sport. The only para-specific government number is a headcount: 52 para core athletes in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme as of April 20266.
  • In Sunil's words. Sunil says the programme has run on donations and crowdfunding with no state money, and that the women's team has qualified for the next world championships, in 202728.
4.2 million

Indians aged 50 and over were blind in the National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey 2015-19, or 1.99% of that age group29.

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07Sources

One research agent gathered 31 figures from government, regulator and established data sources. A separate red-team agent then reopened every source, checked each number, its scope and its date, and looked for newer or conflicting data. It kept 16 figures as written, corrected 14 and cut 1. Each figure above links to its source below, with the date it refers to.

  1. Union Budget 2026-27, Demand No. 102; PIB, 18 Feb 2026 · FY2026-27 Budget Estimate (1 Feb 2026)
  2. Union Budget 2026-27, Notes on Demands for Grants, Demand No. 102 · FY2026-27 BE vs FY2025-26 BE and RE
  3. PIB Research Unit, 3 Aug 2026 · Approved Jul/Aug 2026; covers FY2026-27 to FY2030-31
  4. PIB / MYAS, Sep 2024 · Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
  5. PIB, 3 Aug 2026; Indian Olympic Association · Final, Games held 23 Jul - 2 Aug 2026
  6. PIB Research Unit, 3 Aug 2026 · As of April 2026
  7. Union Budget 2026-27, Demand No. 102; KPMG, Feb 2026 · FY2026-27 BE
  8. PIB Research Unit, 3 Aug 2026 · PIB, Aug 2026 ('at present')
  9. The Tribune (ANI), 1 Jul 2025 · Policy approved 1 Jul 2025
  10. PIB Research Unit, 3 Aug 2026 · Planned, FY2026-27 to FY2030-31
  11. WPP Media, Sporting Nation 2025 (Mar 2026) · 2025 calendar year
  12. WPP Media, Sporting Nation 2025 (Mar 2026) · 2025 calendar year
  13. WPP Media, Sporting Nation 2025 (Mar 2026) · 2025 calendar year
  14. WPP Media, Sporting Nation 2025 (Mar 2026) · 2025 calendar year
  15. Al Jazeera, 2 Sep 2025 · Sep 2025
  16. Union Budget 2026-27, Demand No. 102; PIB, 18 Feb 2026 · FY2026-27 BE; FY2025-26 BE/RE
  17. PIB Research Unit, 3 Aug 2026 · Cumulative to July 2026
  18. Union Budget 2026-27, Demand No. 102 · FY2026-27 BE vs FY2025-26 RE
  19. The Tribune (ANI), 1 Jul 2025 · Approved 1 Jul 2025
  20. Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports / PIB, 31 Dec 2025 · Commencement 1 Jan 2026
  21. PolicyEdge, 15 Oct 2025 · Draft rules, Oct 2025
  22. PIB Research Unit, 18 Feb 2026 (Budget Speech) · Announced 1 Feb 2026
  23. PIB Research Unit, 3 Aug 2026 · 2016 - 2024 Summer Games
  24. Union Budget 2026-27, Demand No. 102; KPMG, Feb 2026 · FY2025-26 BE vs RE; KPMG Feb 2026
  25. IBSA, 2026 Women's and Men's Blind Football World Rankings · IBSA 2026 ranking (published Jan 2026)
  26. The Bridge, 18 Apr 2026 · April 2026
  27. Indian Blind Football Federation, Annual Report 2025-26 · Sep - Oct 2025
  28. Building Real EP07, Sunil J. Mathew (guest's own account) · Episode interview; not independently verified
  29. AIIMS / NPCBVI, India Vision Atlas (NBVIS 2015-19) · Survey 2015-19 (ages 50+)