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The Indian Government is looking to privatise stadia owned and managed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to boost its visitor experience.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Cabinet Minister with independent charge for India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, announced the Government’s intentions this week, stating that India’s stadia need to improve their services and playing surfaces.

Stadiums under consideration for privatisation include the Jawahalal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and Dyan chand National Stadium, all located in Delhi.

Speaking at the launch of Excellence in Learning and Mastering of Sports and Physical Literacy (ELMS) Foundation, Minister Rathore stated “we are keenly thinking of privatising some of our stadia to have better operations in terms of delivering sports to the sportspersons (as we) need to improve the way stadia are administered (and) must have better quality of service and playing area.”

According to the Indo Asian News Service, Minister Rathore advised “the SAI was created before the 1982 Asian Games to help in conducting the Games and looking after these stadia. The mandate has increased now from that time and I think it’s time in today’s world we bring in as many stakeholders as possible.”

Minister Rathore said that the privatisation could be modelled either through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity or Public Private Partnership (PPP), concluding “we believe that it is not just government who should be running sports. We want every stakeholder to become a partner. The sportspersons must get the best facilities.

“Our intention is to see either a CSR activity or a entirely PPP (model) happening. Be assured that the intention is there and we will make it happen.”

Image: Jawahalal Nehru Stadium.

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