Changing the narrative with India's growing Sports Industry

Indian sports industry spends reportedly exceeded a whopping Rs 9,500 crore in 2021.?Despite sport being regarded as one of the largest industries globally in terms of generating employment and revenue, in India, it is yet to be considered as an economic sector. But are we really far from it?

We breakdown on how the narrative is slowly changing and how India will play an instrumental role in shaping up the industry globally.

India is uniquely positioned with over a billion digital consumers. In a sports-obsessed country, majority of the attention of this vast mobile audience is being consumed by both traditional sports and newly emerging e-sports and fantasy leagues.

Did you know as per a latest report by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports, India is the world's biggest fantasy sports consumer/user? Read more on fantasy sports market in India

It's no surprise that media constitutes the biggest share of revenue in the Indian sports industry, with advertisement spends on TV, Digital and Print media accounting for 62% of the total spends. Read more on sponsorship and media spends in Indian sports

With growing interest in the not-so-popular sports, India has still been making waves slowly and steadily with the advent of more and more podium finishes at International events. One such youngster who splashed the news recently was swimmer Vedaant Madhavan. He not only broke records but broke out of his dad's shadow! Watch

Although leagues like the ISL and Pro Kabaddi having serious business propositions that can be explored, cricket business still continues to dominate the entire landscape.

The IPL media rights for the next five-year cycle might fetch the BCCI over Rs 50,000 crore and has attracted interest from international broadcasters like Sky Sports UK. Read more here

Being labour intensive in nature, India's sporting goods industry which has thousands of small, medium, and large manufacturers of sports equipment provides employment to lakhs of individuals. The domestic industry export nearly 60% of its total output!

Legendary international cricketers like Misbah-ul-Haq and Brett Lee are now waking up to the potential of Kashmiri bats. Read what this means for Kashmir's bat industry

Before we leave you reflecting on the true potential of the Indian sports market, here's our co-founder Arshi Yasin speaking about "getting the model" right, along side some of biggest stakeholders of the industry. Watch

Do you feel differently about India's growth as a sporting nation? Are you a stakeholder trying to change the narrative? Or are you a budding entrepreneur giving in your best to make a mark? Share your thoughts in the comments below

That's all folks for the first edition of "The Lineup"! Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get more insights on the latest happenings in Indian sports.

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