Yorker! Pepsi sends notice to BCCI, wants to get out of Rs 396 cr IPL title sponsorship

Mumbai: Beverage giant PepsiCo has sent a notice to the Indian cricket board expressing its intention to withdraw from the IPL as title sponsor because of the controversy surrounding the spot-fixing case, reports The Indian Express. The report says that it is reliably learnt that PepsiCo has informed the IPL’s chief operating officer Sundar Raman about its intention to withdraw from the title sponsorship for which it had paid Rs 396 crore ($71.77 million) for the period 2013-2017. Raman is believed to have informed newly elected BCCI president Shashank Manohar.  Sources in the IPL and BCCI have confirmed to The Indian Express that PepsiCo has decided to cut its ties with the IPL. The company did not respond to calls and texts seeking comment. PepsiCo had previously hinted that it was considering such a move. The BCCI will take up PepsiCo’s notice during its working committee meeting in Mumbai on October 18, says the report. Read the full story here. Soon after taking over as BCCI chief, Shashank Manohar has said he will crack the whip and get BCCI affairs in order within two months. On top of his agenda are these points: 1) Regulations on conflict of interest Manohar said the board would frame regulations pertaining to conflict of interest of administrators, players and their staff within a month’s time and that the board would appoint an independent ombudsman, or ethics officer, who would investigate conflict of interest complaints 2) Strengthening anti-corruption efforts “The board would lay down norms and would take forward the measures to prevent corruption in this game, for which the board would make programmes to educate players,” Manohar said. However, it wasn’t clear what these norms will be and whether they will be different from the board’s as existing a code of conduct. What was new was the idea of meeting government officials “to see and work out if we can get certain investigative agency, because the board people do not have any investigative powers and therefore our hands are tied.” 3) Regulating state associations One of the black holes in Indian cricket is what happens to the money that the BCCI sends the state associations, which these days is roughly Rs 25 crore a year. Manohar said the board would appoint an independent auditor to approve the accounts of state associations and only after the accounts are approved would further money be disbursed “The board would also be empowered to take action in case the board finds that the money which has been given to the state association is not being properly utilized,” Manohar said. 4) Making the BCCI’s records public The board’s Constitution and Memorandum of Association are technically public documents but the board has never displayed them in public. Manohar proposed to upload them on the BCCI’s website to counter claims that “the board is not transparent and everything is kept under the wraps." He also proposed listing any expenditure above Rs 25 lakh on the website “so that people are aware on what activities the board spends their money” while also uploading the board’s balance sheet at the end of the year “so that there is transparency in the activities of the board”. “As I told you that nothing wrong is being done in the board, however it is a perception that is being created in the minds of people that because the information does not come out, there is definitely something wrong in this board. Therefore to clear that myth and change the perception we would do this immediately,” Manohar said.