September onwards there will be a new brand name on team India jerseys. Chinese mobile-maker Oppo, which had made a winning bid of about Rs 1,079 crore for the jersey rights in March 2017. For a period of five years, will make way for Byju’s, the Bangalore-based educational technology and online tutoring firm.
The development took place around two weeks ago and Oppo will be seen on the team India’s jersey only till the end of the forthcoming West Indies series. Once South Africa’s tour of India in September commences, Byju’s will take over the jersey. According to sources, “work is already in progress” on that front.
“Basically, what Oppo has done is cut its losses.”
BCCI will continue to receive the same amount from Byju’s and technically will be at no loss for the entire duration of the deal, which runs up to March 31, 2022, said a BCCI source.
Byju’s, founded by Kerala-based entrepreneur Byju Ravindran, is valued at around Rs 38,000 crore after its latest tranche of funding concluded recently. It is being seen as “just the right kind of player to enter this space”, said industry sources.
Think & Learn Pvt Ltd – Byju’s parent company – had received seed funding in 2013 to get started. As of the present financial year, it is learnt to have secured funding in excess of $750 million from global investors, including the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative.
Oppo’s winning bid in 2017 worked out to Rs 4.6 crore per bilateral match and Rs 1.56 crore per ICC or Asia Cup match. This was a massive increase from what previous rights holders Star India Pvt Ltd had been paying the BCCI.
In the previous deal, Star had paid the BCCI Rs 1.92 crore per bilateral and Rs 61 lakh per ICC and Asia Cup game.
Incidentally, when Oppo replaced Star in 2017 with the winning bid, its own sister concern Vivo (they’re both owned by Chinese corporate BBK Electronics)came up with the second highest bid of around Rs 750 crore. Vivo also holds the IPL title rights.
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