Brand deals, biopics, business ventures: INDIA'S ELITE SPORTSWOMEN RAKE IN THE MOOLAH, ONE GAME AT A TIME

In India, women in sports have never had it as easy as their male counterparts.

- Suhas Yellapantula

Despite being the best in their sport, many a time, their performance and popularity never translated into a brand value that could rake in the moolah. Whether you were a star athlete like PT Usha or Anju Bobby George, captain of the India Women’s Cricket team like Purnima Rau or even an Olympic medal winner like Karnam Malleswari – the struggle was always real. Cash incentives were a pittance, grants and sponsorships were hard to come by, endorsements were unheard of. In short, a career in sports was hardly financially rewarding. Not anymore. Indian sportswomen today are not just winning on the field, they are making smart decisions off the field to secure their financial freedom. For a change, they’re having their pie and eating it too.

BIG WINS AND BIG LOVE FROM THE FANS BRING IN BIG BRANDS AND BIG BUCKS

The better an athlete performs, the bigger her brand value. And that automatically translates into big bucks via endorsements. PV Sindhu’s brand value shot up by around 40% after she won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, and the ace shuttler now charges approx. ₹2-3 crore per endorsement. Yashwanth Biyyala of Baseline Ventures, which manages endorsement deals for Sindhu, archer Deepika Kumar, boxer Nikhat Zareen, says, “If Sindhu has a high brand value today, it’s because she has been able to perform consistently for a long period of time and has won two Olympic medals for the country. ”