A replica of Team India celebrates winning the Asia Cup (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) New Delhi: The Indian cricket team may not have received the trophy for winning the Asia Cup last month, but hosting the tournament will add a net revenue surplus of over Rs 100 crore to the Indian Cricket Board’s (BCCI) coffers. According to the BCCI’s 2025-26 annual budget, a copy of which is in TOI’s possession, the board expects to maintain a net surplus of around Rs 6,700 crore in the 2025-26 financial year, even as it looks at a rocky future with IPL valuations declining for the second consecutive year.“(Expected) increase in international tour surplus by Rs 109.04 crore due to Asia Cup hosting fees, rights fee income and ICC T20 World Cup participation fees. (Expected) increase in media rights surplus by Rs 138.64 crore due to higher number of domestic international matches, increase in media rights fees per match and Asia hosting income.
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia Reacts to Trophy Controversy After 2025 Asia Cup Final
The Asia Cup was embroiled in controversy due to the Pahalgam terror attack in April this year. The tournament was moved to the United Arab Emirates after the government declared its policy to only play Pakistan in multi-nation sporting events. The tournament eventually ended with Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi – who is also the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister – refusing to hand over the trophy to winners India after the Indian team refused to accept it from him.Surplus to grow 10x in 8 years, but we face a challenge with IPL valuations fallingBCCI’s expected surplus for this financial year will be 10 times higher than the actual surplus in 2017-18 before the mega IPL media rights deal in 2018, where the board’s surplus grew by 222 percent. BCCI is expected to clear a surplus of around Rs 6700 crore compared to Rs 666 crore it posted in 2017-18.However, the board could be looking at a volatile future with IPL valuations down significantly since the merger of media rivals Jio and Star last year. According to a D&P Advisory report, IPL’s valuation has declined by Rs 16,000 crore in the last two years. The ban on online real-money gaming apps, which used to bring in a significant portion of sponsorship money, also played a role. Board growth could see a slowdown in the next media rights cycle, which will grow in 2028.Notably, the board has managed to reduce its dependence on the IPL from 2018-19 through better media rights and revenue share deals from the ICC. In 2018-19, BCCI generated only five percent of its surplus, while IPL contributed 95 percent to a surplus of close to Rs 2100 crore. The IPL has been consistently netting a surplus, this time nearly Rs 5000 crore from BCCI’s Rs 6700 crore surplus.The document takes into account “media rights fees per match, which will increase by around 27% compared to the previous year. The document states: “For 2025–26, the ratio of allocation is 20% to BCCI, 76% to IPL and 4% to WPL, while in the 2024–25 budget the ratio was 24% to BCCI, 72% to IPL and 4% to WPL based on the budgets.Spending on women’s domestic cricket is 3.5 times less than men’sIn its expenditure, the BCCI budgeted Rs 96 crore for women’s domestic tournaments, a mere 26 per cent of the surplus generated by the Women’s Premier League alone. This does not take into account media rights fees from international matches.Compared to women’s cricket, BCCI intends to spend Rs 344 crore on men’s domestic cricket across age groups. Ranji Trophy expenditure alone stands at Rs 111 crore. Women’s cricket does not have a structured international first-class tournament like the Ranji Trophy. The BCCI has planned an inter-zonal multi-day tournament. The rest of all women’s tournaments across age groups are played in one-day and T20 formats.Notably, WPL generates a surplus of over Rs 350 crore. Last year, WPL posted a surplus of Rs 390 crore, while the board projected a surplus of Rs 358 crore for 2025-26.3.5x increase in India A, junior programsThe BCCI has increased spending on development programs such as India A and junior cricket by nearly three and a half times. According to the budget, the council plans to spend Rs 42 crore this financial year compared to Rs 12.9 crore last year. The BCCI has acknowledged that there has been a sharp decline in these development programs after Rahul Dravid was promoted to head coach of India in 2021 from being in charge of the National Cricket Academy and development pages. Prior to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the BCCI organized frequent A and youth tours that helped build a solid pool of resources.TOI understands that current NCA chief VVS Laxman and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have focused on this aspect and revived the A tour this year.GRS reduced by Rs 231 crore, Test cricket incentive addedThe board reduced gross revenue share (GRS) to Rs 171 crore from last year’s Rs 412 crore. In the last financial year, an amount of Rs 48 crore was paid as Test match incentive to players who play all the Test matches scheduled in that year. Rs 45 crore has been earmarked for 2025-26. Interestingly, BCCI’s policy was to give 26 percent of GRS to cricketers. Thirteen percent of this went to international cricketers, while the remaining 13 percent was shared with domestic cricketers. It will be interesting to see if the board has changed its GRS policy.
