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Chinese Invasion in Cricket: OPPO Mobiles to Sponsor Indian Team for Next Five Years

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer, OPPO Mobiles, has won the Indian team sponsorship rights for a five-year period, starting April 1 2017.

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Adeesh Sharma
New Update
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The Chinese smartphone manufacturer, OPPO Mobiles, has won the Indian team sponsorship rights for a five-year period, starting April 1 2017. For this, OPPO Mobiles will pay Rs 1,079 crores for the duration of the contract. Interestingly, they beat the only other bid from another Chinese smartphone brand, Vivo, which was for Rs 768 crores.

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The value of the bid by OPPO is much higher than the existing one by Star India, whose contract expires on 31st March 2017. For every single match in a bilateral series OPPO shall shell out Rs 4.61 crores as compared to Rs 1.92 crores being paid by Star India currently. Likewise, for ICC tournaments, OPPO Mobiles shall shell out Rs 1.51 crores per match as compared to Rs 61 lakhs being paid by Star India. The team sponsorship rights means that now OPPO Mobiles shall be written all over men's, women's, Under-19 and A teams' kits.

This almost three-fold increase in sponsorship rights raises eyebrows and points to a strategic attempt by the Chinese brands to take control of the most popular sport in India. Nine companies--OPPO, Vivo, Star India, PayTM, Hero, Group M, DNA, DBS Bank and Encompass had obtained the tender document following which only two - OPPO and Vivo - submitted bids.

“Both bids far exceeded the minimum reserve price set by BCCI ,which was Rs 538 crore. These bids are testimony to the strength of Indian cricket. It is testimony to belief of people in Indian cricket,” said BCCI CEO Rahul Johri once the tender process was completed.

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The entire bidding process was under cloud with the recent restructuring of the BCCI by the honourable Supreme Court of India and with Star India withdrawing from rebidding with CEO Uday Shankar citing ambiguity with respect to BCCI’s stature within the ICC.

Sky Li, global vice-president and president of OPPO Mobiles India Pvt Ltd., said OPPO aimed to reach new heights alongside the India team. "Cricket in India isn't just a sport, it is also a way of life, a culture, even a religion," he said. "OPPO is the most adored youth-centralised brand. In India we also have been growing fast."

Let’s hope OPPO is able to maintain its commitments over the next five years, considering the prevailing global uncertainty in the consumer space and the way another Chinese smartphone brand, LeEco, was forced to curtail its presence in India recently.

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