In a country where the spirit of sport has long outpaced the systems that support it, the Cabinet’s approval of the Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 (National Sports Policy 2025) marks a timely and transformative moment. Coming more than two decades after its last revision in 2001, this policy is a purposeful recalibration of India’s sporting vision. It is a playbook that seeks to reimagine India’s sporting ecosystem — from playgrounds in villages to podiums on the global stage.
For the first time, a national sports policy articulates a strategic and structured roadmap that is both comprehensive and has a long-term vision. The Khelo Bharat Niti is built on five core pillars: excellence on the global stage, with a renewed emphasis on building high-performance centres and international competitiveness; economic development through sport by promoting sports manufacturing, tourism, and job creation; social inclusion by empowering women, tribal communities, Divyangjan (people with disabilities), and reviving indigenous games; promotion of a nationwide fitness culture through community-based initiatives and integration with campaigns like Fit India; and integration of sport with education, including curriculum reforms, teacher training, and dual career pathways in line with the National Education Policy 2020.
What makes this policy particularly significant is the timing of its arrival. India’s stated aspiration to host the 2036 Olympic Games is both audacious and inspiring. It requires more than rhetoric; it calls for deep reforms, systematic planning, and a grassroots-to-global pipeline of athletes and infrastructure. The Khelo Bharat Niti provides that scaffolding. It signals a shift from viewing sport merely as recreation to recognising it as a powerful instrument of nation-building.
A particularly novel feature of the policy is its framing of sport as a driver of economic growth. Khelo Bharat Niti goes beyond medals, aiming to unlock jobs, boost tourism, and attract investment through sports infrastructure, manufacturing, and start-ups. This economic lens is a strategic shift, positioning sport as both a public good and a growth sector.
Beyond the Centre
In a federal polity like India, the real test of any national policy lies in State-level convergence. While sport is constitutionally a State subject, only about a dozen States have formal sports policies — from early movers like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to recent efforts in Gujarat, Haryana, and Uttarakhand. Mizoram has gone further by granting industry status to sports. Many others still lag behind. To achieve meaningful outcomes, State policies must align with the broader goals of the Khelo Bharat Niti, supported by coordination, fiscal backing, and shared political will.
The policy also outlines a strategic framework for delivery, and central to this vision is the Draft National Sports Governance Bill, 2024. Once enacted, it is expected to bring much-needed transparency, accountability, and professionalism to India’s National Sports Federations (NSFs) by setting up a Sports Regulatory Board, athlete commissions, and a Safe Sport framework. If Khelo Bharat Niti 2025 sets the vision, this bill could be the mechanism that enables its delivery.
That said, even a well-intentioned and well-structured policy like NSP 2025 is not without its limitations. There are critical areas that need urgent attention if India is to build a truly world-class sports ecosystem.
What’s missing
First, while the policy rightly emphasises athlete development, it lacks a structured framework for post-retirement support such as pensions, career counselling, or mental health services. India can take inspiration from initiatives like those by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), which recently launched an initiative to help athletes transition into life after sport through career planning and wellbeing programmes. Such support systems are essential to ensure athletes are not forgotten once their peak years are behind them.
Second, the mention of KPIs and benchmarks in the policy is encouraging, but it lacks specificity. There is no clarity on what indicators will be used, how often progress will be measured, or whether performance data will be publicly accessible. For a mission of this scale, transparent and time-bound tracking will be critical to ensure accountability and sustained momentum.
Third, although the policy highlights the role of technology and AI in performance monitoring, it lacks clarity on how a centralised, nationwide athlete database will be developed and sustained. For data to truly drive decisions — whether in talent identification or resource allocation — all stakeholders, including State governments, federations, and NGOs, must work together to build and maintain an integrated digital ecosystem. Without this, the promise of a data-driven sports system risks remaining unfulfilled.
Blueprint with promise
These limitations, however, do not take away from what the National Sports Policy 2025 fundamentally gets right. It brings clarity where there was once ambiguity, lays out structure in place of scattered efforts, and replaces symbolic gestures with long-term institutional thinking. By fostering collaboration across government, federations, the private sector, and citizens, it lays the foundation for a more inclusive and resilient sporting ecosystem.
As India sets its sights on the 2036 Olympic Games, Khelo Bharat Niti can serve as the engine powering that ambition. But aspiration must be matched with execution. This policy offers the blueprint: what follows must be a collective commitment to turn that vision into sustained sporting success.
The author is a Public Policy professional.
