Rapidly Growing Sports Market in India

The global sports nutrition market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9% from 2021 to 2028. During this time, India’s sports nutrition market, which refers to any product developed to improve athletic performance, aid recovery, or support muscle growth, will witness a surge, with industry experts predicting a CAGR growth of 22.8% by 2023. Of course, sports nutrition is not the only Indian market seeing high growth levels, and it’s certainly not the first one connected to the sports world. Here we are discussing about rise in India’s sports market due to IPL and other factors.

Industries That Benefitted

India’s sports media and sponsorship industry are also seeing impressive growth figures, reaching around ₹95 billion during the fiscal year 2020. According to reports, much of that growth (70%) came from increasing ticket sales for sports like cricket. Cricket is the number one sport in India. The professional men’s Twenty20 cricket league, founded by BCCI and universally known as the Indian Premier League (IPL), brings in millions of viewers annually. For instance, the viewership count for the IPL hit 380 million in 2021. As IPL viewership increases, so do sponsorships. This has resulted in several business tycoons offering BCCI large sums to acquire title sponsorship rights.

In 2008, when the league first formed, New Delhi real estate company DLF got the rights to become the title sponsor for the IPL. For the upcoming 2022/23 season, BCCI has selected multinational conglomerate company, The Tata Group, as its title sponsor, replacing Vivo, a Chinese technology company.

Upward Trend in Online Betting

Likewise, India’s gambling market has been on an upwards trend, growing at an estimated 20% each year. In particular, sports betting has proven to be the most profitable niche. Reports stating India’s sports betting market reached a value of over 203 billion USD in 2020. Other than cricket, people who bet on sports in India also wager on football, including matches in the Indian Super League and European Leagues like the Premier League and Champions League. Some football fans in India also wager on lower divisions like the Championship, the second-highest division in the English football system after the Premier League.

In part, this rise in sports betting in India is because mobile phone usage in the country has increased. By 2020, Indians will reportedly spend one-third of their day on mobile devices. However, it’s also because online casinos and sportsbooks in India have various attractive features. For instance, when it comes to football, this independent review site states that the best football betting sites in India offer customer support, different payment methods, mobile and desktop optimization, and bonuses and promotions like free bets. Some platforms also have accumulator markets. These markets combine multiple bets into one larger wager. That means people can place bets on three teams, including those competing in different leagues, such as the Delhi Capitals, Real Madrid, and Tottenham Hotspur, and then combine these bets hoping to achieve higher payouts. 

Complete list of Orange Cap Winners (2021 – 2008) with Statistics

Improved Sales of Sports Apparel and Equipment

Lastly, India’s sports equipment and apparel market has jumped. Market valuations are expected to hit almost 30 billion USD this year before increasing to 40 billion by 2027. For perspective, that marks a CAGR growth of nearly 8%; this growth has been helped by the different ways India segments its sports equipment and apparel market. For instance, the market’s segmentation is based on product type, such as apparel and shoes, and sports type like outdoor, running, tennis, water sports, and winter sports. The market is divided by distribution channel (online versus offline) and end-user (men versus women).

In 2022, some of the most profitable businesses in India that are universally recognized include pharmaceuticals, organic farming, real estate, and website designing. Additionally, the Indian interior design and decoration market is forecasted to be between 20-30 billion USD. However, not enough credit is given to the many sports-based needs in India that have thrived over the last ten years, such as sports nutrition, media and sponsorships, betting, and equipment and apparel. Moreover, many of these sports-based markets are poised for even more success in the coming years as leagues like the IPL continue to attract the attention of some of the biggest business tycoons in operation.