Smartphone brand Vivo will remain the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League amid the rising calls to boycott Chinese products following the clash that claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley, according to the BCCI.
Board of Control for Cricket in India treasurer Arun Dhumal said that while the cricket body is open to reviewing its policy on sponsorship, it will not end its association with Vivo.
Dhumal said since the contract with Vivo was signed when the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), they will abide by the partnership.
“The contract was signed by our predecessors. It’s a five-year deal and will continue. As far as anti-China sentiment is concerned, I am all for ban on Chinese products. For me personally, and BCCI as an organisation, the country comes first. But we have to differentiate between awarding contracts to a Chinese company and securing sponsorships. The money is coming into India,” Dhumal said.
Vivo had bagged the IPL title rights in 2017 for five years for Rs 2,199 crore, that amounts to the BCCI receiving Rs 440 crore annually from the Chinese brand.
However, anti-China sentiments are running high and calls to boycott Chinese products have been on the rise since the standoff in Ladakh between troops of both countries ended in deaths of 20 soldiers. This was the first time since 1967 that a clash between Indian and Chinese forces at the border resulted in casualties.
Dhumal argued that when Indian customers pay the Chinese tech company for their products, a part of it goes to the BCCI as brand promotion. The BCCI pays 42 per cent tax on this money to the government, and thus, it supports India’s cause and “not the other way around”, he said.
“Till the time a Chinese company is allowed to sell their product and make money from the Indian consumer, why should that money (sponsorship) be allowed to go out of India, is my limited point.”
It is highly unlikely that the BCCI will suspend its association with the Chinese brand as the board is expecting to host the IPL, which was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, later this year. Amid speculations that the T20 World Cup will be pushed in favour of the IPL, the BCCI is waiting for the International Cricket Council to take a decision regarding the ICC event by July.
