Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jay Shah on Monday ruled out the possibility of foreign investment in the Indian Premier League (IPL) without the approval of the Central government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Clearing the air on potential Saudi investment, Shah said that no foreign direct investment is possible in IPL as the parent body of IPL – the BCCI – is registered in India as a society and not a company.
Reports had surfaced last November that the kingdom had proposed investing as much as $5 billion into the IPL towards an expansion into other countries, similar to the English Premier League or UEFA’s Champions League.
It bears noting that the state-owned Saudi oil and energy giant Aramco already sponsors IPL’s Purple (most wickets in a season) and Orange Cap (most runs in a season) awards, which are known as Aramco Purple Cap and Aramco Orange Cap, respectively.
