• State Govt ready to cooperate & partner with private players to promote sports in Mizoram

NEW DELHI, 15 July 2020: Mr Robert Romawia Royte, Minister of Sports and Youth Services, Govt of Mizoram said that Mizoram became the first state in the country to grant industry status to sports. To realize the potential of Mizoram's youth, the government has formulated the sports policy in line with the Olympic Charter, he added.

Addressing the FICCI webinar 'States Driving Growth Through Private Investment in Sports', Mr Royte said that sports industry is gaining importance in India and it is expected to grow exponentially. New markets for sports in developing countries like India are opening up. He added that the importance of sports is rising steadily and it has been acting as a bridge between mainland India and the North East. Sports has enhanced the socio-cultural and economic relationship as well between mainland India and the North East.

Mr Royte said that Mizoram government is building infrastructure and framing enabling policies for attracting investment for development of sports in the state. The Mizoram government is ready to cooperate, partner and work with private players. He added, "I invite FICCI and other corporates to invest in Mizoram for promotion of sports in the state."

Mr Royte said that soon sports will be a part of the education system according to the new education policy of India. Convergence of school education with sports will lead to a huge leap in the sports sector. He added that North East has provided India with many national and international sports players irrespective of the challenges faced.

Mr Sumit Pandey, OSD Special Projects, Sports & Youth Services Dept., Govt. of Odisha said that the government had identified priority sports and roped in partners to make Odisha a sports hub in the country. We brought in a corporate and sports expert to create high performance centres in Odisha. The government needs to create an ecosystem conducive for private sector partners. He added that we are looking at private investment and tapping into CSR funds of corporate as well.  

Mr James Sutherland, Chairman, PlayHQ & Former CEO, Cricket Australia said that he was extremely impressed to hear Mizoram's Chief Minister express passionately about his high level principles & vision of building a happy, health & successful community through sports. In Australia sports is a way of life, and the governments at various levels promote sports of local, national and international levels. He added that Australian government focuses on investing on infrastructure to ensure that sporting facilities are conducive for female players.

Mr Sanjog Gupta, Chair, FICCI Sports Committee & Sports Product Head, Star India said, "States need to recognise the soft power of sports, both as a societal agent of change and as a perception driver. State governments need to drive initiatives and design programs in sport as well as incentivise the private sector to invest in them."

Mr Ranjit Barthakur, Chairman, FICCI North East Advisory Council said that development of sports has a great multiplier effect on the economy and sports is one of the most needed economic activities in the world. He added that the need is to invest in right infrastructure for actualizing the sports value chain and monetizing sports in Mizoram. For promoting sports in North East India, North East Development Fund can be created that can be driven by the private sector.

Mr Rajesh Kharabanda, MD, NIVIA said that sports equipment industry has a greater stake in the growth of the sports sector as sports equipment will be consumed only when the sports is being played. Sports is a huge economic activity and it has been seen that the state which invested in sports infrastructure have higher number of participation as well. He added that Odisha and Mizoram have one of the most progressive sports policies in the country.