Whereas stadiums roar and billions flood into the IPL yearly, a stark query lingers: what if even a fraction of that cash constructed India’s future as a substitute of simply entertaining it?
Professor Mayank Shrivastava from IISc Bengaluru factors out that if a easy 40% tax had been utilized simply on BCCI’s IPL earnings, almost ₹15,000 crores may have been raised over three years—sufficient to fund 10 new IITs or create a nationwide deep-tech innovation corpus. “Add franchise earnings (₹800–₹1,200 crore/12 months), and one other ₹320–₹480 crores may very well be collected yearly. In whole, almost ₹6,000 crores per 12 months may very well be redirected into analysis, simply from the IPL ecosystem,” he writes.
In IPL 2023 alone, BCCI reported a ₹5,120 crore surplus, with revenues touching ₹11,770 crore, primarily powered by media rights. With projected revenues for 2024 and 2025 reaching ₹12,000–₹13,500 crore yearly, the size is barely rising.
But, BCCI advantages from revenue tax exemptions underneath its charitable standing. Billionaire-owned franchises additionally get pleasure from favorable tax remedy, whereas gamers’ salaries are taxed individually. “Leisure is backed. Analysis is taxed,” Shrivastava notes, highlighting the irony that analysis establishments pay GST on lab gear and consumables.
The sample is not restricted to cricket. Bollywood productions obtain tax breaks. Spiritual trusts preserve huge business empires with out paying taxes. New sports activities leagues get pleasure from startup tax holidays. Shrivastava argues that even modest taxation throughout these booming sectors may generate 1000’s of crores for scientific and technological growth.
“India would not lack cash. Indians do not lack cash. What we lack is the imaginative and prescient to speculate sooner or later,” he asserts. Fast-return companies dominate, whereas long-term investments in analysis and innovation are seen as “high-risk, low-return” pursuits.
Shrivastava concludes, “Leisure retains the current alive. Analysis builds the long run. It is time India begins rewarding not simply fast fame, however future builders.”
