Khelo India major winner in sports budget

New Delhi, February 1

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has seen a sizable hike in its allocation in the Union Budget that was presented today.

The Ministry has been allocated Rs3062.60 crore for the year 2022-23, a hike of 11.08 percent compared to the budget estimate of last year. The union government had allocated Rs2596.14 crore for sports, which was later revised to Rs2757.02 crore last year.

The Khelo India programme saw the biggest jump in the budget. The scheme has been allocated Rs974 crore, a jump of over Rs316 crore from the last year’s estimate of Rs657.71 crore.

The allocation for encouragement and awards to sportspersons has also been substantially increased from Rs245 crore to Rs357 crore in this year’s budget. The budget allocated to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is Rs653 crore, which is down by Rs7 crore from last year.

The allocation for the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) too has been reduced to Rs16 crore.

Assistance to National Sports Federations has been hiked from Rs181 crore to Rs280 crore.