The Olympic Games in Paris, to be held from July 26 to August 11, will be the country’s main focus during the 2024-25 financial year.
In the interim Union Budget delivered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Sports Ministry received an allocation of Rs 3,442.32 crore, marking a Rs 45.36 crore increase from the previous year’s budget.
Last year, the Sports Ministry had a revised allocation of Rs 3,396.96 crore.
During the 2024-25 financial year, the primary focus for the nation will be the Olympic Games in Paris, scheduled from July 26 to August 11.
The leading initiative of the ministry, Khelo India, saw its allocation rise to Rs 900 crore, up by Rs 20 crore from the previous budget.
The budgetary allocation for the Sports Authority of India (SAI), responsible for organizing national camps, providing infrastructure and equipment to athletes, and appointing coaches, among other tasks, witnessed an increase of Rs 26.83 crore compared to the previous year’s revised expenditure of Rs 795.77 crore.
The National Sports Federations (NSFs) will receive an additional Rs 15 crore this time, compared to the revised budget of Rs 325 crore for 2023-24.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) also saw an increase in funding, with the government allocating Rs 22.30 crore in the interim budget, up from Rs 21.73 crore in 2023-24.
The budget for the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), responsible for conducting dope sample testing, was set at Rs 22 crore, an increase of Rs 2.5 crore from the previous budget.
While the budget for the National Centre of Sports Science and Research was reduced to Rs 8 crore from Rs 10 crore previously, the National Sports University will receive an increased allocation of Rs 91.90 crore compared to the Rs 83.21 crore allocated in the 2023-24 budget.
Significantly, the budget for providing incentives to sportspersons saw a notable reduction from Rs 84 crore to Rs 39 crore.
Similarly, the allocation for the National Sports Development Fund was reduced to Rs 18 crore from Rs 46 crore, while the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare for Sportspersons scheme received Rs 2 crore.
The allocation for ‘Enhancement of Sports Facility in Jammu and Kashmir’ was also decreased to Rs 8 crore from the previous budget allocation of Rs 20 crore.
In the previous budget, the allocation for the Commonwealth Games was Rs 15 crore, a figure drastically reduced to Rs 0.01 crore in the current budget.