The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI), the richest cricket board in the world, has exceeded its own expectations for 2011- 12 and registered a whopping increase of ` 192.63 crore, or a jump of 101.53 per cent, in net surplus over the previous year.
BCCI, now worth a mind boggling ` 3,308.31 crore, had budgeted for a surplus of ` 296.31 crore for 2011- 12, but ended up earning a massive ` 382.36 crore, according to its balance sheet.
In 2010- 11, the Board earned a net surplus of ` 189.73 crore. The difference between the budgeted surplus for 2011- 12 and the actual amount earned is ` 86.05 crore — or an increase of 29.04 per cent. Overall, the BCCI earned a gross income of ` 849.44crore and spent ` 467.08 crore, for a net surplus of ` 382.36 crore.
The main source of BCCI’s income has been the media rights and it earned ` 437.75 crore from this category in 2011- 12 while in 2010- 11, it earned ` 388.56 crore — a significant increase of ` 49.19 crore over the previous year.
Since the IPL is always played in April- May, the income from its 2011 tournament is shown in the latest balance sheet and the figures from the 2012 competition will be shown next year.
The other most significant income in 2011- 12 was the interest accrued from banks, and again the Board recorded a handsome jump over the previous financial year, of ` 23.79 crore. This year it received ` 97.47 crore as interest while it was ` 73.68 crore in 2010- 11.
“ The interest income has increased in spite of the fact that the interest rates came down [ recently]. This was mainly possible because of effective utilisation of available cash flow by investing the available float in short term deposits from time to time,” writes BCCI treasurer Ajay Shirke, who took over the reins from MP Pandove in September last year, in the BCCI annual report.
Also during the past financial year, the BCCI received ` 62.65 crore as its share from the surplus that the International Cricket Council distributes to its member countries annually. This amount includes ` 61.54 crore in relation to the 2011 World Cup, hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and ` 1.11 crore from the annual ICC ranking awards.
Last year, the Board had received ` 23.81crore from the ICC, meaning an increase of ` 38.84crore. This raise was possible as India won the World Cup and with it handsome prize money besides the tournament hosting fees.
Shirke, also president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, is naturally elated to be part of the BCCI’s continued financial growth. “... am pleased to report that in spite of the various issues that the Board faced from time to time, our financial performance has been satisfactory...,” he writes in the annual report 2011- 12.
He was clearly referring to the various government tax agencies re- opening of the many old BCCI/ IPL tax assessment cases that had been settled long ago.
They have particularly targeted the Board, ironically, after it changed its objective in 2006 and contributed ` 50 crore to the National Sports Development Fund of the sports ministry. This has caused a lot of consternation among the Board officials and they have appealed against the decisions in several cases.
The only category in which the BCCI earned less than 2010- 11 was through the royalty from sponsorship. It earned ` 14 crore this year while in 2010- 11 the corresponding figure was ` 14.63 crore.
Shirke is grateful to all his colleagues, particularly Pandove, for helping him settle down his treasury office in his home city Pune.
“I’m extremely grateful to our president N Srinivasan for his valuable guidance and support from time to time, the secretary, the joint secretary, and all the office bearers for guiding me...,” he writes in the report.
