- Wednesday, May 08, 2024
The tournament also coincides with India’s festive season that kicked off n September and the timing will benefit the retail sector, feel experts.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE cricket World Cup 2023 is not just a fans’ delight but will also boost the economy of the host nation — India.
Bloomberg has said in a report citing economists at India’s Bank of Baroda estimating that the quadrennial tournament may make the Indian economy richer by Rs 22,000 crore (£2.1 billion).
The tournament, which kicked off on Thursday (5) with a game between the finalists of the 2019 edition — England and New Zealand, will continue till November 19 and is expected to draw millions of viewers both at home and overseas. Ten cities across India set to host 48 matches during the tournament and that will boost the travel and hospitality sectors, the Bloomberg report said citing economists Jahnavi Prabhakar and Aditi Gupta as noting.
The tournament also coincides with India’s festive season that kicked off last month and according to the economist duo, the timing will benefit the retail sector as many people would go for “sentimental purchases of merchandise”.
Prabhakar and Gupta predicted that the total Indian viewership for the mega tournament, including both television and streaming platforms, to be much bigger than the 552 million figure reached in 2019. That may result in generation of Rs 10,500 crore and Rs 12,000 crore in television rights and sponsorship revenue “on a conservative basis”, Bloomberg added.
The economists also said that the World Cup may also lead to inflation. While prices of plane tickets and hotels have already gone up, service charges in the informal sectors in the cities hosting matches of the World Cup could see a substantial rise, considering the festive season is also around the same time.
In all, inflation may rise between 0.15%-0.25% for the months of October and November, they told Bloomberg.
The World Cup will also make the Indian government’s coffers richer through higher tax collections on sale os tickets, goods and services tax on hotels, restaurants and food delivery, they added.
