Dragon's footprint on Indian sport is big

In the wake of growing clamour in India to boycott Chinese products following the violent clashes between the two armies in western Ladakh last month, BCCI was quick to announce that it would be holding a meeting to review IPL sponsorship deals. The meeting was to be held last week and till now there has been no sign of it.

What's interesting here to note is that it was an unattributed tweet albeit from the BCCI's verified handle. It, therefore, makes one wonder if it was a preemptive move on the part of the Indian Board to cool the rising tempers in the immediate aftermath of the killing of 20 army personnel. After all, cricket has been our best weapon to "settle" border flare-ups.

That said, is it feasible to call off the deals? Let's first have a glance at Chinese investment in Indian cricket.

Four years ago, the Chinese smartphone manufacturing company, Vivo, paid Rs 80 crore per year to get the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League after Pepsi had scrapped its Rs 396-crore contract (for 2013-2017 cycle) in 2015.

Vivo stepped in as a stop-gap arrangement, and when the fresh bids were called for the next five-year cycle (2018 to 2022), the same company shelled out a whopping Rs 2199 crore (nearly Rs 440 crore per season) to retain the title sponsorship.

While Vivo's is the biggest deal by a Chinese firm, there are several other entities, where there are investments from the Communist country. For example learning app Byju's, which has a minority stake by Chinese online gaming company Tencent - is the title sponsor of the Indian cricket team. Considered an Indian set-up, Byju's replaced another Chinese smartphone maker Oppo who withdrew from their Rs 1079 crore five-year deal last year. Byju's deal ends in 2022.

Paytm, Swiggy, Dream 11, which all have significant to minor stakeholders from companies across the eastern border, have been associated with the Indian team or the IPL.

While cricket obviously has attracted a majority of sponsorship, the dragon's footprints are there in other sports as well. Li-Ning, sports goods company, sponsors Indian Olympic Association, and the racquet-making company has struck individual endorsement deals with badminton stars P V Sindhu (Rs 50 cr for four years) and Kidambi Srikanth (Rs 35 cr for four years). Vivo shelled out Rs 300 crore to win the title sponsorship of the immensely popular Pro Kabaddi League, Virat Kohli has a deal with another mobile unit iQOO for an undisclosed amount.

Though sentiments are riding high now, it's not easy to sever these lucrative deals given how deeply the Chinese companies are entrenched in Indian sports.

Chinese Checkers

CRICKET

Indian team sponsor (valued at Rs 1079 cr for 5 years): Byju's (Tencent has a minority stake).

Title sponsor (Rs 326.8 cr for 5 yrs): Paytm (Alibaba has 37.15% stake in Paytm).

Official sponsor: Dream11 (Tencent has a minority stake).

IPL title sponsor (Rs 2199 cr for 5 yrs): VIVO.

Official partners: Dream11, Paytm.

Associate sponsors: Dream11, Swiggy (5.27% of Tencent stake) and Byju's.

IPL Teams.

Zomato (Alibaba has 23% stake): Associate sponsor of RCB.

Dream11: Sponsor of Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians and is an associate sponsor of CSK.

Other disciplines

Indian Olympic Association: Li Ning (Pegged at Rs 5-6 cr till Tokyo Olympics)

Pro Kabaddi League: Vivo (Rs 300 cr for 5 yrs)

Individual deals

Badminton: PV Sindhu with Li Ning (Nearly Rs 50 cr for 4 years); Kidambi Srikanth with Li Ning (Nearly Rs 35 cr for 4 years).

Cricket: Virat Kohli with iQOO smartphone (Amount not known).