The recent success of India at the Olympics and Paralympics has been incredible, and to support the nation to grow into a multi-sports nation, the Sports Budget for 2022-23 saw an increase of Rs. 305.58 Cr. The Sports Budget will add to India’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year.
PM Modi highlighted govt’s special focus on Sports Infra for Aatmanirbhar Arthavyavastha. He mentioned, “ For sports, Budget 2022 has seen a triple-fold rise in the last 7 years. This will benefit our youth. This youth, that makes the nation proud, comes from farmers’ families mostly”
Sports Allocation stands at all-time High
The Sports Budget emphasized Khelo India and National Youth Schemes. In the previous year’s budget, the allocation to sports was Rs. 2596.14 Cr which was later revised to Rs. 2757.02 Cr.
In this year’s budget, the allocation for sports witnessed a new high of Rs. 3062.60 Cr. The allocated amount is expected to revise during the course of the financial year according to the demands of sportspersons and recommendations from the National Sports Federations.
The government’s ambitious, flagship scheme Khelo India saw a hike of Rs. 316.29 Cr. The scheme was introduced in 2015-16, where it got an allocation of Rs. 97.52 Cr. The budget of Khelo India has been raised from last year’s Rs. 657.71 Cr to Rs. 974 Cr – around 30 % of the entire sports budget. However, there was no announcement of any increased allocation for training and preparation of the sportspersons.
National Sports Federations got an allocation of Rs. 280 Cr
The National Sports Federation of India (NSFOI) promotes the fundamental principles of Sports at a national level within the framework of sports. The organization received an allocation of Rs. 280 Cr, the budget saw a reduction to 16 Cr, from Rs. 25 Cr last year.
With a marginal reduction of Rs. 7.41 Cr, the Sports Authority of India was allocated Rs. 653 Cr which was Rs. 660.41 Cr last year. Further, the fund allocated for awards to sportspersons had a significant hike from Rs. 245 Cr to Rs. 357 Cr.
Finance Minister touched topics like Animation & Visual Effects
The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech mentioned Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) for their huge potential to provide employment to the youth. She further announced that the AVGC promotion task force would be set up to recommend ways to realize this potential, build domestic capacity for serving out markets and the global demands.
