MUMBAI: Indian cricketers will soon be wearing a new brand name on their official jerseys with Chinese mobile manufacturer Oppo handing over the sponsorship rights to BYJU’S, the Bengaluru-based edtech unicorn.
In March 2017, Oppo won the Indian cricket team jersey rights for a five-year period after bidding a monster Rs 10.79 billion. As per the deal, Oppo was paying BCCI Rs Rs 46.1 million per bilateral match and Rs 15.6 million for an ICC event game.
Virat Kohli and his men will be wearing the jersey with the new brand name from the upcoming home season, beginning with the assignments against South Africa from September 15.
Commenting on the development late Thursday evening, an official representative of the mobile major said: “Oppo India would like to thank Team India and BCCI for a meaningful association that led the brand to become a household name in just five years of operations in India. As Oppo enters into its sixth year, India will continue to remain a key growth market. To meet rapidly growing consumer demand, Oppo will accelerate its efforts on local Production, R&D and Retail. This will help Oppo bolster its commitment to offer Indian consumers cutting-edge technology and a premium experience.”
The transfer is a “tripartite agreement” between Oppo, BYJU’S and the BCCI and will be signed Thursday, a senior BCCI official told PTI.
“Oppo and BYJU’S are negotiating among themselves on the possible handover of shirt sponsorship deal. The CoA has been intimated that they are discussing among themselves on the transfer of sponsorship,” the BCCI official told the newswire.
The official further said: “Any transfer of sponsorship requires the interested parties to inform BCCI about negotiations. Accordingly BYJU’S and Oppo have informed about their discussion. The BCCI doesn’t stand to lose any money as the new company will pay exactly what the old one is paying.”
Another official said the transfer would, in fact, translate into more money for the Board.
“The BCCI stands to gain if there is a transfer of sponsorship. The two parties in question will have to pay an extra 10% (between them) and also give a notice of six months. They must be negotiating who will carry the burden of those extra 10%,” the official said.
Interestingly, BYJU’S sponsorship deal comes at a time when the company is looking to expand overseas. Being the sponsor of the Indian cricket team will draw massive exposure for BYJU’S among the South Indian diaspora as it looks to take on global edtech players.
After back-to-back massive funding rounds over the last year, Byju’s tripled its revenue to Rs 14.3 billion ($204.36 million) in FY18-19, Inc42 reports. This helped the company turn profitable on a full-year basis.
