Is India Emerging As A Multi-Sporting Nation?
Owing to the influx of various sporting leagues, it’s safe to say that India is booming with unexplored opportunities within the Sports Industry. We, at the International Institute of Sports & Management, recently held an expert panel discussion on June 2, 2018 to discuss about these growing opportunities within the sports industry and India’s emergence as a multi-sporting nation.
The session comprised of an esteemed panel of Mr. Vinit Karnik (Business Head – Entertainment, Sports and Live Events – Group M), Ms. Reema Sanghavi (Co-founder Pinkathon), Mr. Sanjog Gupta (Senior Vice President – Star India Pvt. Ltd)&Mr. Nilesh Kulkarni (Founder-Director, IISM).
The insightful comments by our panelists, emphasized on the changing sporting culture of the nation. Mr. Vinit Karnik, shared how the increasing job opportunities in the industry is nothing but a wave of change that each of us should be looking forward to. “If there’s so much of sport being telecast live on TV in our own country, imagine the kind of job opportunities it can create for the entire eco-system. Starting from the talent, to production, to marketing and sales, today the sports industry in the country is providing 2500 to 3000 organized/permanent job opportunities in a year in addition to the innumerable temporary jobs it creates every year” he quips.
Ms. Reema Sanghavi, re-affirms that there’s a shift in dimension within the sporting ecosystem; “Last five years we have 340 medals taken back home, and these medals were in sports like table-tennis, badminton and so on. It’s also interesting to note, that for the first time at a macro level, our Sports Minister is asportsperson and this is where India is definitely moving towards emerging as a multi-sporting nation.”
It was interesting to have Mr. Sanjog Gupta share a significant insight on how the PKL auction indicates the progression of sports in our country“Six players in the Pro-Kabaddi League auction were contracted to play the next season for a fee of Rs. 1 crore and above which shows the potential of that sport which was long forgotten. For a lot of us, those three hours of the PLK auction is perhaps the biggest indicator that India is well and truly a multi-sporting nation.”
Our founder-director, Mr. Nilesh Kulkarni, stresses on how it’s essential to become a sport-playing nation from a sport-loving nation, he says, “Cricket has been a dominant sport because it has a fabulous grassroots structure, we could take a leaf out of it and add to that the Khelo India initiative which is a fabulous initiative, where the government have themselves taken the initiative with the support of Star India to actively involve young kids in different sport. This will eventually become a movement in India.”
Whether it’s the change in the mindset of people or shift in the dimension of sporting ecosystem, India definitely has a lot more to offer in years to come & is moving towards emerging as a multi-sporting nation. It’s only time, we witness its impact at a global level.
