Paytm strikes title sponsorship deal with BCCI till 2019 for Rs 203.28 crore

One97 Communications, owners of Paytm, today acquired the title sponsorship rights for India’s domestic and international cricket matches at home for a period of four years with a bid price of Rs 203.28 crore. The decision to award the rights to One97 Communications till 2019 was taken at the BCCI’s marketing committee meeting. [caption id=“attachment_2211910” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Paytm logo. Screengrab from Paytm website[/caption] The base price per match was Rupees 1.68 crore and the final price comes to Rs 2.42 crore per match. The amount per match is 40 lakh more than what Micromax, who were the only bidders in the 2014-15 season, gave the Board last year. From now on, the domestic Ranji competition will be known as the ‘Paytm Ranji Trophy’. There were only two bidders for the scheduled 84 matches (Tests, ODIs and T20Is) in India during the upcoming seasons as the rights have been awarded till 2019. The bids were opened at the BCCI marketing committee meeting that lasted for around five hours. BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said they were elated to have Paytm as their homes series title sponsors. “They are one of the new generation companies and we are delighted to partner with them. Having them for next four years gives the stability and continuity to Indian cricket. With nearly 84 matches scheduled over the next 4 years with all major countries playing in India we are hopeful that Paytm will be able to build a strong and strategic association with Cricket,” Thakur said in a release. “We are also happy that the realisation has increased by 20%. It augurs well for Indian cricket. I am thankful to Paytm for their interest and faith in Indian Cricket and welcome them on board,” Thakur said. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO of Paytm, said, “Cricket is the dream sport for us in India. Cricket epitomises the Paytm values of passion, hard work and team effort. We are very happy to partner with the BCCI and cheer for Indian cricket with millions of fans. Over the next 4 years, we will continue to invest strongly in cricket and other sports. As a growing brand which has big plans for a billion strong Indians, there is no better platform than cricket in India.” It is learnt that the Micromax bid was cancelled. “Micromax’s bid was not even opened after they had failed to submit proper documents required for being eligible bidders. SO their bid document was not opened and paytm won the bid unilaterally,” a marketing committee member said. When asked specifically why Micromax’s bid was cancelled, Marketing Committee chairman Chetan Desai told PTI, “The bid document specifically mentioned that the bidding should be done by consortium of companies. Micromax said they have a consortium but when they filled the bid documents there was no mention of it. So their bid document was not opened.” Desai also said that BCCI’s in house TV production bid has been awarded to Zoom Technologies for Rs 26 crore. It was Rs 10 crore less than Rs 36 crore offered by a Singapore based company which won the bid last year. Nike’s kit sponsorship deal is ending in December and global sporting goods giants Adidas have also shown interest in it. Now it will be battle between Nike and Adidas later this year to acquire the deal. India will host South Africa later this year which will be the start of the International season association with Paytm. PTI