A number of initiatives have been taken by the Government to incentivize the Corporate sector to adopt specific sports and training centres. Under the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), the Government has been regularly interacting with the Corporate and Public Sector Undertakings requesting them to contribute to the NSDF and become active partners for promotion of sports in the country. As a result, many corporate organisations have come forward to join hands with NSDF, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, by providing financial support for sports development in the country.

Some of such prominent organizations are: National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC); Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC); Coal India Ltd. (CIL); India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL); Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL); General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC); Bharat Dynamic Limited (BDL), etc.

The PSUs or Private companies release CSR contribution / donation for the activities as per their own policies / priorities. Further, corporate entities like Coal India Ltd., India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), Spice Jet, DCM Shriram, are represented on the Council of NSDF.

Detailed instructions have been issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs regarding CSR funding, and Sports is included in Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013. Item (vii) of the Schedule provides for "training to promote rural sports, nationally recognized sports, Paralympic sports and Olympic sports.”

The NSDF guidelines prescribe that the Fund shall accept contributions from statutory bodies created under the Acts of Parliament or of the State Legislatures, the United Nations and its associated bodies, other International Organizations, private and public corporate sectors, trusts, societies and individuals provided that the decision of the Council in case of acceptance or otherwise of money from an individual or an organization shall be final. All contributions to the NSDF have 100% tax exemption as per sub-section (2) (iii) of the Clause (a) of the Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

Under the CSR initiative, the following organizations have entered into the agreement with the Sports Authority of India (SAI), an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports for the purposes of providing training in specific sports: Glenmark Aquatic Foundation (GAF), Trivandrum for Swimming; Dr. SPMSPC, New Delhi; Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), I G Stadium, New Delhi for Cycling; Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS), Hisar for Athletics, Boxing & Wrestling; Simply Sports Foundation (SSF), Bangalore for Sports Science Programme and support in design of athletes’ kitchen and fitness ecosystem.

To promote the Aatmanirbhar Bharat policy in the country's sports goods manufacturing, all the procurements undertaken by SAI, are in line with order issued for Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) by Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

Also, the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) and the Start-Ups as recognized by DPIIT, who are manufacturer of Goods, are being given exemption from submission of the Earnest Money Deposit, Prior Work Experience and Annual Turnover Criteria.

This reply was given by the minister of Youth affairs and sports, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur in Rajya Sabha today.

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