China’s Vivo’s contract with IPL ends, Tata Group will be the new title sponsor

Chinese mobile company Vivo’s contract with the Indian Premier League (IPL) has expired. In its place, now one of the country’s business giants, Tata Group, will be the title sponsor of IPL from this year. The decision was taken in the IPL’s Governing Council meeting held on Tuesday. However, the value of this deal is not yet known.

IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel to be the new title sponsor of Tata Group Confirmation is of. Tata Group A spokesperson did not provide further details about the deal. Vivo had a title sponsorship deal of Rs 2,200 crore for 2018-2022. However, due to the dispute after the confrontation between the Indian and Chinese forces in the Galvan Valley, Vivo took a break of one year from IPL and instead Dream11 became the title sponsor of this tournament. Last year, Vivo made a comeback as the title sponsor. There was speculation that the company wanted to transfer these rights to a suitable bidder and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had given permission for the same.

A BCCI source said, “This was bound to happen as the presence of Vivo was giving bad publicity to the company as well as to the tournament. Due to negative sentiments regarding Chinese products, the company was left with a season to complete the deal. Despite this, I had to withdraw from sponsorship. BCCI will not suffer from this as it will be given an annual sponsorship amount of Rs 440 crore from the new sponsor.

BCCI keeps half of the sponsorship amount and the rest. IPL distributed among the franchisees. With the addition of two new teams this year, the number of these franchises has gone up to 10. It is understood that the deal is only for this year and next year new tenders will be invited for the tournament’s title sponsorship. After the confrontation in Galvan, due to heavy protests against Chinese companies, the central government had also banned some Chinese apps. These included Tiktok. However, Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Vivo have a major share in the country’s smartphone market.