India’s best-ever medal tally at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has created an increased interest in sports in general, going past the obsession with Cricket. Governments have also announced handsome rewards to the medal winners. But what has been the budget allocation to Sports over the years? India recorded its best-ever performance in the Olympics at the recently concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Indian Contingent, which is also India’s largest-ever participating in the Olympics, won 7 medals. This includes 1 Gold, 2 Silver & 4 Bronze medals. They bettered the earlier performance in terms of medals won during the 2012 London Olympics, where India won 6 medals – 2 Silver & 4 Bronze. The better performance of India at this quadrennial sporting spectacle has drawn appreciation from many. Along with it were also the news & claims of support extended by governments, institutions, etc. of sponsoring the athletes in their training & preparation. Further, there are multiple posts on social media comparing the investments in sports made by the current NDA government with that of the earlier UPA government. They claim that the current government has allocated higher funds than earlier regimes, thereby contributing to the better performance in the latest edition of the Olympics. In this context, we look at the actual numbers relating to the Central Government’s spending on Sports and the share of allocation to sports compared to the overall budget expenditure. We also review the various sports-related schemes in the country. No major variance in the allocation to the Ministry of Youth & Sports as a share of total expenditure The budget allocation to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MoYAS) for 2021-22 is Rs. 2.5 thousand crores. This comes to around 0.07% of the total Budget expenditure for the year i.e., Rs. 34.8 lakh crores. This amount is less than the previous year’s budget estimate, which was Rs. 2.82 thousand crores. It constituted 0.09% of the total Budget Estimate expenditure. However, this has been revised to Rs. 1.8 thousand crores, or about 0.05 % of the total revised expenditure for 2020-21, i.e., around 1.02 thousand crores have been reduced in the revised estimate. On the other hand, the actuals for 2019-20 indicate that the actual spending in that year of the MoYAS is Rs. 2.6 thousand crores which is 0.10% of the total actual expenditure for the year. This is the highest allocation both in terms of the total amount as well as a share in total expenditure, over the past 10 years. Since the current NDA government came into power in 2014, there is a gradual increase in the overall amount allocated to the MoYAS. But this increase in amount is proportionate with the overall increase in the total government expenditure. The share of allocation to the MoYAS remained between 0.06% and 0.08% during the current NDA regime. The share of allocation to the ministry was similar even during the last years of UPA-2. Over the 15-year period i.e., 2007-08 to 2021-22, the highest allocation to this Ministry was during 2009-10 & 2010-11. But this was largely due to the expenditure & outlays related to the conduct of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Delhi. The higher share of 0.1% & O.15% in the earlier years, can also be attributed to the preparation for these games. Overall, it can be concluded that the share of allocation to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports largely remained constant irrespective of the regimes, and there is no specific increase in the allocation during the current government, apart from the launch of the dedicated Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). It ought to be noted that the allocation to this Ministry is not exclusive to Sports. This also includes an allocation to various schemes related to Youth Affairs. Hence a review of the different schemes dedicated to sports would throw more light on the trends in the government expenditure on sports. Allocation to SAI & ‘Khelo India’ form the major share of expenditure on Sports In response to a question in the Lok Sabha recently, the Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports provided the details of the allocation of funds under various Sports-related schemes in the country. As per this information, the allocation during 2019-20 has been considerably higher compared to both 2018-19 as well as 2020-21, with Rs. 2000 crores. Out of this Rs, 1,989.38 crores has been utilized. Comparison of allocation to various schemes indicates that the increase during 2019-20 compared to the other years is due to the increased allocation to Sports Authority of India (SAI): The allocation to SAI increased from Rs. 395 crores in 2018-19 to Rs. 615 crores in 2019-20.