Sports Budget 2024-25 Sees Slight Increase From Last Year; Khelo India Gets Lion's Share

Sports ministry's overall allocation was Rs 3,442.32 crore which is around Rs 45 crore more than the Rs 3,396.96 crore that was allocated in last year's budget.

Khelo India, the union government's flagship project to promote sports at the grassroots level continues to get a lion's share of the overall allocation. Out of the total allocation of Rs 3,442.32 crore for the sports ministry, Rs 900 crore were assigned to Khelo India. This sum is Rs 20 crore more than the revised allocation of Rs 880 crore for the project in the previous financial year.

The Khelo India has been at the center of the sports budget for the past few years. The actual allocation of the project in 2022-23 stood at Rs 596.39 crore, but it was increased by more than Rs 400 crore, to Rs 1,000 crores, in the 2023-24 budget, before being revised to Rs 880 crore.

Khelo India inaugural Youth Games (KIYG) were held in 2018 and since then the government has been expanding the project. Khelo India University Games in 2020, before also launching the Khelo India Winter Games the same year and the Khelo India Para Games in 2023.

The government's assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs) has also seen an increase of Rs 15 crore -- from Rs 325 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 340 crore in the latest budget.

The budget for the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has also seen a slight increase as compared to last year. From Rs 795.77 crore last year, the budget for SAI for the upcoming year has been pushed by Rs 26.83 crore to Rs 822.60 crore. SAI overlooks and maintains its sporting facilities across the country and also manages the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) to prepare athletes for the global sporting extravaganzas.

The budget for the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), which does all the testing, have also been enhanced slightly. While NADA's budget has gone up from Rs 21.73 crore last year to Rs 22.30 crore, NDTL has got Rs 22 crore, up from Rs 19.50 last year.

This is the first budget of Modi 3.0. In the new cabinet after the Lok Sabha Elections of this year, former health minister Mansukh Mandaviya was handed the sports ministry.

(With PTI Inputs)