How the business of sports in India can board the AI bus

On 24th August 2017, a task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for India’s Economic Transformation was constituted. The Task Force gave its report on 19th January 2018. It recommended an Inter-Ministerial National Artificial Intelligence Mission to act as a nodal agency for coordinating AI-related activities in India. The recommendations of the Task Force have been shared with various Ministries and Departments of the Government of India. In order to create a policy framework and to develop the ecosystem for Artificial Intelligence, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, has constituted four committees covering all the aspects of AI.

These Committees are:

• Committee on platforms and data for AI,
• Committee on leveraging AI for identifying National Missions in key sectors,
• Committee on mapping technological capabilities, key policy enablers, skilling, re- skilling, and R&D
• Committee on cybersecurity, safety, legal, and ethical issues.  (Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, 2018)

In 2026, the conversation on artificial intelligence is mostly about how many jobs it will destroy. Or will the new AI artificial intelligence era solve the real Indian problems?  When it comes to achieving the AI goal along with the Viksit Bharat 2047 campaign in the background, let’s take professional sports, which are under the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) or international representation under the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Opportunities for governments as developers and users of AI include the potential to transform service delivery, policymaking, internal operations, and oversight. If institutions such as MYAS & IOA adopt AI, one of the important problems that can be solved is sports data management of registered sport governing bodies from 28 states & 8 union territories. Every tournament, player, stats, results, broadcasting, and miscellaneous online presence will be captured under MYAS & IOA systems, which will benefit GOI’s flagship sports policies and programs in the future.

Embracing AI in sports ministry and Indian sports federations can predict and execute tournament management, medal tallies, policy making in professional sports, resource planning, learning and development, finances, etc. Around 30th May 2020, the Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Communications and Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, also launched a National Program for the youth, “Responsible AI for Youth” this Program aims to give the young students a platform and empower them with appropriate new age tech mind-set, relevant AI skill-sets and access to required AI tool-sets to make them digitally ready for the future. The Program has been created and launched by the National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics & IT, in collaboration with Intel India, with support from the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Human Resource Development. (https://www.pib.gov.in/, 2020) 

On 6th August 2026, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports is strengthening youth empowerment through the MY Bharat platform by expanding AI-enabled digital services, experiential learning opportunities, and grassroots outreach across rural and remote India. Since its launch, more than 2.46 crore youth have registered on the MY Bharat digital platform, while over 1.22 lakh youth have enrolled in nearly 25,000 Experiential Learning Programmes (ELPs) (Sports, 2026)

The major challenge to be addressed in time by the sports federations & sports ministry is, the representation staff or the support staff, which consists of coaches, referees, and PE. teachers, administrators, tournament staff, district sports bodies, etc. Need to be well versed with the changes and keep it upskilled like the private sector. Most of the support staff are misaligned with the broader goals of the federation, sports ministry, and country goals. MoUs and technology alone aren’t enough. The success of AI in government is on one critical factor: a workforce equipped to understand, manage, and apply AI tools effectively. To bring this change, it needs collective contribution, fast decision-making, and a non-political approach.

In the recreational sports business in India, which is mostly known by apps, software, private sports events, franchise sports properties, sports brands, etc. To catch the AI bus, India already has micro entrepreneurs in the recreational sports sector, such as former athletes or former coaches who run an academy, event management companies, small-scale tournament organizers, local umpires, and scorers who can play the role of leaders in embracing the AI technology. The start-ups, sports services, and product companies can create an AI backup, but the early adopters are the ones who are at the grassroots level. To build the future in the business of recreational sports in India, requires understanding how many grassroots-level sports are embracing technology, growing as per times, and solving the real problems.

Indian recreational sports at this moment don’t need many entrepreneurs from high-income families to build sports products and services for high-income consumers. Let's consider a grassroots sports professional or micro entrepreneur from Nagpur, Vizag, Ranchi, Srinagar, Tezpur, etc., who understands the local sports economy better than any consultant from an international firm or online reports on market forecasting. India is not missing AI adopters in the business of sports; they are already there. The public and private sectors have to give them the capability to experiment and try to solve broken things.

The most important part in catching the (AI artificial intelligence) bus is that we need to grow in the business of sports in India through automation, without leaving people lacking income or purpose.

References

Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, C. R. (2018, July 25). www.pib.gov.in. Retrieved from https://www.pib.gov.in: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1540049&reg=48&lang=2 (Sports, 2026)

(https://www.pib.gov.in/, 2020)