The policy roadmap comes barely two months after the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2026 Budget speech, proposed to come up with a dedicated initiative for sports goods that will promote manufacturing, research and innovation in equipment design as well as material sciences to enable India emerge as a global hub for high quality, affordable sports goods.
“To help the sector grow and achieve its true potential, we recommend removal of duties on imported raw material and capital goods along with improving the overall ease of doing business,” the Aayog said in its report, Realising the Export Potential of India’s Sports Equipment Manufacturing Sector, released on Thursday.
The Aayog also suggested developing a testing infrastructure ecosystem in the country, providing fiscal incentives to make the manufacturers globally competitive, setting up of specialised raw material manufacturers, setting up clusters for sports to encourage new manufacturers, and developing brand India in sports manufacturing by roping in National Sports Federations (NSFs), corporates, athletes and manufacturers.
“Bring in administrative changes such as a dedicated sports goods promotion cell, and expanding definition of sports goods,” it added.
The Aayog has projected an increase in India’s share in global exports in sports goods to $24 billion from $2 billion and in equipment to $8.1 billion from current $275 million by 2036. This, it said, will help generate approximately 54 lakh cumulative jobs by 2036.
The Aayog is of the view that given the labour intensity, the Common Wealth Games 2030 and the general move towards fitness, it is vital to grow this sector. The global sports goods market is pegged at $700 billion of which $140 billion is just sports equipment. As per the report, the global exports of sports equipment is $52 billion of which China has 50% of the market while India currently only has 0.5% market share.
The report said India has a cost disability of about 12-25% across the sub-groups compared to China and Pakistan and suggested attracting fresh investments and targeting by establishing new manufacturing setups outside Punjab and UP, preferable in states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to build a competitive ecosystem for emerging sports categories.
“Resolve constraints for existing manufacturers and accelerate exports in categories where India has a footprint, by removing roadblocks and providing support,” it added.