Toyota in Frame for Team India Jersey, Speculative Value Nears ₹500 Crores!
Sponsoring the Indian cricket team jersey has grown into one of the most prized opportunities in world sport. What started with deals worth only a few crores in the 1990s has now reached contracts valued in hundreds of crores, showing how cricket in India has become both a passion and a billion rupee industry.
In the early years the sums were modest. The exposure was high but the market had not yet exploded with television rights and global viewership. By the mid 2010s the scenario began to change. In 2014 Star India was paying close to two crore rupees for each bilateral match and over half a crore for ICC and ACC fixtures. This was a huge jump from what earlier sponsors like Sahara had paid and showed that jersey space was now premium property.
The game truly changed in 2017 when Chinese phone maker Oppo stunned everyone by signing a five year deal worth over one thousand crore rupees. That translated to several crores for every single match and set a new benchmark for the sport. For the first time, sponsorship of the jersey crossed the thousand crore mark, making global brands realise how valuable India’s cricket jersey had become.
Soon after, Byju’s entered the picture in 2019. Reports suggest their deal was valued at around three hundred crore rupees for the cycle, with negotiations in later years pushing that number slightly higher. Though the value dipped compared to Oppo, the importance of the jersey never declined. In 2023 Dream11 stepped in as the new sponsor, paying close to three hundred and fifty crore rupees for a multi year arrangement. While it did not match Oppo’s peak numbers, it still proved that the sponsorship had moved permanently into the high hundreds of crores range.
If Toyota steps in as the next lead sponsor it will have to match or exceed Dream11’s number to secure the contract. A fair estimate would place the deal in the range of four hundred to five hundred crore rupees for a multi year agreement. That would translate to around one hundred and fifty crore rupees per year if it is a three year contract, working out to roughly three crore rupees per match when divided across fifty international games annually. This would put Toyota slightly above Oppo’s per match spend but still in a sustainable range given the visibility.
For Toyota the return on investment could be immense. Every match involving India is watched by hundreds of millions on television and streaming platforms, while social media ensures that the jersey is seen across the world. Every replay, highlight, press conference and photo of the players would carry Toyota’s logo, creating brand recall that is impossible to match in conventional advertising.
From single digit crore deals in the early years to contracts now valued in hundreds of crores, the journey of the Indian cricket jersey reflects the rise of cricket as India’s biggest cultural and commercial property. If Toyota joins this legacy with a deal of four to five hundred crore rupees it will only confirm that the price tag of the jersey has risen to heights unimaginable a generation ago.
