A recent CAG audit report has revealed that the Indian Olympic Association’s “faulty” sponsorship agreement with Reliance India Limited (RIL) has given an undue favour to RIL resulting in a Rs 24 crore loss to IOA.

Under the terms of the sponsorship agreement dated Aug 1, 2022, RIL has been granted the right to associate with IOA as the Official Principal Partner of the Asian Games (2022, 2026), Commonwealth Games (2022, 2026), 2024 Paris Olympics and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Read also: Odisha FC Share Spoils With Kerala Blasters FC In ISL 2024-24 Encounter

As per the agreement, RIL gave the rights to construct, and showcase the ‘India House’ during these Games. The CAG report said that through an amended agreement on December 5, 2023, additional rights to the Winter Olympic Games(2026, 2030) and Youth Olympic Games (2026, 2030) were also granted.

The report noted that IOA should have raised the consideration amount from Rs 35 crore to Rs 59 crore as the amount of rights of six games was ₹35 crore which was calculated on an average of ₹6 crore per game. However, by agreeing to the faulty agreement with RIL, there is a loss of Rs 24 crore to IOA.

“The reason for not enhancing the amount by ₹59 crores may be intimated to audit,” the report read.

The IOA President was asked to reply on the half-margin issued by CAG.

Ajay Kumar Narang, executive assistant to IOA president Usha, said the agreement had to be renegotiated because of a ‘flaw’ in the tender.

“When the agreement was signed and naming rights were granted, it was in the name of sponsors — Reliance India House. In 2022, the International Olympic Committee allowed sponsors name with the country house. But in 2023 the IOC changed the conditions to say that the sponsor cannot use a name and it will have to be a country-named House,” said Narang.

“The sponsor came back to us saying they will not get the mileage, so they had to be compensated. So additional rights of four events were given. Also, CAG has calculated pro-rata per event which will be ₹6 crore per Games. It is calculated on the visibility a sponsor gets. In Winter Olympics and Youth Olympics India’s participation is much less compared to Summer Olympics.”

Read also: PR Sreejesh Named Hockey India League Franchise’s Director

He further added that in the agreement which was made in 2022, they have not specified that it would be subject to the conditions of naming it as to be approved by the IOC and that was the flaw in the agreement and the tender itself.

Meanwhile, the IOA treasurer Sahdev Yadav also said the executive council and the sponsorship committee were not consulted when the agreement was amended. “The president should answer why the agreement was changed and who signed it? It has led to a loss of ₹24 crore to IOA. This should not have happened,” said Yadav