India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Union Budget for the financial year 2023-24 on Wednesday. Among the many highlights from the budget this time around was the sports sector allocation which got the biggest ever financial boost in history. The Sports Sector saw a massive 300 crore increase from the previous fiscal year 2022-23. The Finance Ministry of India has allocated a sum of Rs 3397.32 crore this time around to sports, a huge boost ahead of this year's Asian Games.
The increase in the budget allocation for the sports sector is also important as the preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics will be in full swing this year. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) which had received a cut in its budget the last time around is all set to get a hike on this occasion with an increase of Rs 132.52 crore in its allocation. The SAI has been allocated a total of Rs 1045 crore.
Khelo India Gets Highest Allocation In Sports Budget 2023-24
The remainder of the amount has been divided between the National Sports Development Fund which gets Rs 15 crore, National Sports Federation (Rs 325 Crore) and National Service Games (Rs 325 Crore). The biggest share has once again been reserved for the government's flagship Khelo India Youth Games whose budget has now surpassed the 1000 Crore mark and has been allocated a whopping Rs 1045 crore. In addition, the National Sports University has been allotted a sum of over 100 crore.
It is pertinent to note that in 2022-23, the Finance Ministry had reserved a total of Rs 3062.60 Crore for the sports sector- an increase of nearly 300 crore from the earlier year. However, in 2021-22 the Sports Budget had received a cut of Rs 230.78 crore with the Khelo India Youth Games seeing the biggest reduction.