A football that costs Rs 100 to make in India and Rs 85 in Pakistan will not win an order from an international brand. That was the example Sanjeet Singh, Programme Director at NITI Aayog, used on a panel at the IAMGAME Sports Conclave at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Friday. “Chances are no,” he said.
The panel was about NITI Aayog’s March 2026 report on sports-equipment manufacturing, which sets out a path to $8.1 billion in annual exports by 2036. India shipped $275 million of sports equipment in 2024. Reaching the target would lift its share of global exports from about 0.5 per cent to 11 per cent, and the report puts the job gain at around 54 lakh cumulative jobs by 2036.
The $8.1 billion is an opportunity the report identifies, not the size of today’s sports economy. India’s share has also slipped from 0.7 per cent in 2014, while Vietnam, which started from a comparable position, has nearly tripled its presence.
The price gap
The report estimates that Indian manufacturers carry an average cost disadvantage of about 15 per cent against leading Asian rivals such as China and Pakistan. Buyers can switch suppliers over a gap of 2-3 per cent. The report ties about 77 per cent of India’s disadvantage to structural factors, chiefly costly raw materials and machinery.
Carbon fibre, thermoplastic polyurethane sheets, ethylene-vinyl acetate foam and specialised alloys are often imported, and duties, anti-dumping measures and Quality Control Order restrictions push their prices up. Imported machinery and moulds put mechanisation out of reach for many small producers.
Puneet Anand, Director at Sanspareils Greenlands, said domestic buyers will pay more and foreign ones will not. For a cricket bat, he said, “we are getting almost 30-40 per cent better realisation selling in India than selling globally, because globally everything is about price.” Cricket is the one category where India already has scale.
Small units, long waits
Nearly 90 per cent of production comes from small and micro enterprises, the report says. Meerut and Jalandhar anchor the industry with more than 250 exporting units and nearly 20,000 household units between them. Both sit inland, which adds to freight costs and delivery times.
Testing is another drag. India does not have enough internationally accredited laboratories, so firms send products abroad. Anand said India makes about a third of the world’s cricket helmets, yet a manufacturer may need to send as many as 60 helmets to certify one product line. Testing a single model costs Rs 6-7 lakh and takes four to six months, he said.
Piyush Doshi of The Convergence Foundation compared the industry with a car whose brakes are still on. “If I want to set up a factory and it takes six months, or if I need to get a product certified and it takes multiple months, these are brakes which kill my competitiveness in the global market,” he said.
What the report proposes
NITI Aayog recommends Rs 4,000 crore for four greenfield clusters near ports, with Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu named as possible sites, and another Rs 1,000 crore to modernise Meerut and Jalandhar. It also proposes a Rs 500 crore Brand India programme and a Sports Manufacturing and Export Promotion Cell in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Singh pointed to Vietnam, which cut duties on inputs and built industrial parks without being a sporting power. He also argued that Indian firms need not wait for a global brand of their own. Making training and safety gear, or acting as a contract manufacturer for larger names, is a route open now, he said.
The report splits the opportunity into three phases. The first, covering balls, cricket equipment, boxing gear and table-tennis products, is put at about $3.4 billion of exports. The second, covering rackets, cycling, sports flooring and hockey equipment, is put at about $2.4 billion.
Sources
- Can India turn sports equipment into an $8.1 billion export industry?
- Sports equipment exports could hit $8.1 billion, create 54 lakh jobs : NITI Aayog
