THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) has decided to resume its funding to India under the Olympic Solidarity Programme, a year after suspending it, acknowledging the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) “corrective measures” to resolve governance and internal disputes.
Last year, the IOC’s Executive Board had halted the annual grant of Rs.15 crore—meant for athlete development programmes—amid prolonged infighting within the IOA. At the time, 12 members of the Executive Council had refused to ratify the appointment of Raghuram Iyer as the association’s CEO, citing his monthly salary of Rs.20 lakh along with additional perks.
The deadlock was broken following the intervention of Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, with a truce reached on 24 July.
“We took note of the various steps and corrective measures that have been taken over the past few weeks to resolve the internal disputes and governance issues within your NOC,” IOC’s NOC Relations and Olympic Solidarity director James Macleod noted in the letter which is in PTI’s possession.
“…the appointment of your NOC CEO, Mr Raghuram lyer, was formally ratified by decision of your NOC Executive Committee on 24 July 2025; and your NOC General Assembly was held successfully on 13 August 2025, during which the pending reports and audited financial statements were formally approved. As a result, we are pleased to confirm that the IOC and Olympic Solidarity are now in a position to progressively resume all payments to your NOC and normalise the working relationship with your NOC,” the letter added.
