Sport policy in India

India boasts a rich sporting heritage dating back thousands of years. Despite its rich sporting culture, India only began developing its own sporting ecosystem in 1954 with the creation of the All-India Council of Sports (AICS), shortly after gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. However, in the seven decades that have passed, the systematisation and development of sport of India has been relatively slow and internationally India have had limited success on the elite stage. The aim of this profile is to provide a detailed insight into the vast sporting ecosystem in India by exploring the policies, enablers, and barriers in relation to sport participation, elite sport, and the use of sport across the nation to tackle non-sporting objectives. Following an introduction highlighting the key demographics and sporting culture in India, the profile moves onto outline the state led provision of sport in India, including how sport is organised and funded. Next, the significance of the commercial sport sector in India is highlighted, followed by a section detailing the growth of the not-for-profit sector. Finally, the profile highlights the current public policy priorities and challenges, which include elite sport success, tackling inactivity and poor governance in sport before offering some concluding observations.