Indian Sport stands at a decisive moment in its sporting history.
With the country preparing a bid for the 2036 Olympic Games, the ambition has shifted from participation to performance. The scale of that ambition, however, cannot be met by government funding and administrative structures alone. The current model built around schemes such as Khelo India and TOPS has laid a foundation, but it is structurally incapable of delivering the transformation required for India to become a top-tier Olympic nation.
What India now needs is a governance and funding revolution, and the most powerful lever available is corporate India.
The strategic framework proposed in the attached document is the “One Conglomerate, One Sport” (OCOS) model a shift from short-term sponsorship to long-term stewardship. Instead of brands paying for logos on jerseys, India’s largest business houses would become permanent custodians of specific sports, responsible for talent pipelines, high-performance centres, coaching ecosystems and athlete welfare .
This is not a theoretical idea. Asia’s sporting superpowers were built this way. South Korea’s Chaebol system and Japan’s industrial team (Jitsugyodan) model converted corporate capital into Olympic dominance. India’s corporate economy today is larger, more global and more technologically advanced than those systems were when they transformed their nations.
Why the state alone cannot do it
India’s sports budget for 2025–26 stands at around ₹3,794 crore, a historic high. But when distributed across 30+ Olympic sports, multiple national camps, foreign coaches, grassroots competitions and infrastructure, the money is spread dangerously thin. High-performance sport is capital-intensive. One Olympic-standard shooting range costs more than most federations’ annual budgets. One elite combat-sports HPC costs more than some federations receive in five years.
The result is predictable: India consistently under-medals relative to its GDP. The talent exists. What is missing is patient, long-term capital combined with professional management precisely what India’s conglomerates possess.
What Asia did differently
South Korea offers the gold standard. Hyundai effectively “adopted” Korean archery in 1985, integrating its engineering R&D, biomechanics, data analytics and funding into the national program. The result? Korea has won 27 of the last 39 Olympic gold medals in archery. Samsung did the same for Taekwondo, wrestling and Olympic diplomacy, even helping secure the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Japan took a different route: athletes became salaried corporate employees. Toyota, Hitachi and Toshiba provided financial security, post-career employment and training infrastructure, allowing athletes to focus entirely on performance. The lesson is clear when corporations move from branding to responsibility, performance follows .
Why India is uniquely ready
Indian conglomerates are entering a decade-long investment cycle worth nearly $800 billion across energy, manufacturing, infrastructure and digital industries. Even a fraction of that, directed toward sport, would dwarf anything the government can provide. Crucially, India’s corporate houses already operate CSR frameworks, foundations and sporting arms. What is missing is coordination and long-term mandate.
The OCOS model solves this by assigning responsibility. A conglomerate does not “sponsor” shooting or archery it adopts it for 15–20 years, embedding it into its brand, governance and CSR architecture.
Who should adopt which sport
The below outlines a compelling mapping between Indian conglomerates and sporting disciplines:
- Tata Group – Archery & Hockey
Tata already runs the Tata Archery Academy, which has produced Deepika Kumari and Komalika Bari. Archery aligns perfectly with Tata’s tribal footprint in Jharkhand and Odisha and its long-term nation-building ethos. - Reliance – Athletics & Football
Reliance’s RFYS database covers millions of young athletes. Athletics, with its huge medal volume, demands scale and no Indian institution has scale like Reliance. - JSW – Combat Sports
JSW’s Inspire Institute of Sport has already delivered Olympic champions. Boxing, wrestling and judo are high-yield medal sports that fit JSW’s high-performance DNA. - Adani – Indigenous Sports & Water Sports
Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, rowing and sailing align with Adani’s rural reach and port infrastructure. - Hero – Golf
Hero effectively owns Indian golf globally through the Hero World Challenge and Asian Tour events. - L&T – Shooting
Precision engineering, ballistics and defence manufacturing make shooting a natural fit. - Godrej – Fencing & Gymnastics
Agility, design and innovation sports that mirror Godrej’s modern brand ethos. - Hinduja – Para-sports
Healthcare, prosthetics and rehabilitation match Hinduja’s hospital network and inclusion focus.
Each pairing is not symbolic it is strategic and operationally logical.
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The National Sports Governance Act 2025 finally gives teeth to sports reform. It introduces a National Sports Board, term limits, athlete representation and a tribunal system. This is exactly what corporate India needs legal protection against corrupt or politicised federations.
The model proposes allowing corporate nominees on federation executive committees when a conglomerate commits long-term funding, with veto rights over financial misuse. That single reform could eliminate the biggest risk investors fear: leakage.
How the money would work. CSR alone is not enough. The plan recommends:
- Sport-specific SPVs pooling CSR and private capital
- 150% weighted tax deductions for sports development
- Infrastructure status for HPCs to access cheap capital
- PPP models allowing sports centres to be financially sustainable
This turns sport from charity into strategic national investment.
The strategic payoff: Countries do not become sporting powers by accident. They build systems. India already has the athletes. What it lacks is corporate-grade execution. If Tata runs archery, Reliance runs athletics, JSW runs combat sports and L&T runs shooting, India will finally have parallel, professionally governed pipelines producing elite athletes year after year. Hosting the 2036 Olympics is about prestige. Winning at them is about power. The OCOS model is how India moves from participation to dominance.
The choice before corporate India is simple: remain advertisers in sport or become the architects of India’s Olympic future.
