Dubai: When it comes to sports sponsorship in India, the Sahara Group stands head and shoulders above the rest. Be it bailing out the Force India Formula One team with a buyout of 42.5 per cent stake or extending their run as sponsors of Indian cricket team by paying a prohibitive sum for over a decade, they have certainly pulled out all the stops.
Ask Subrata Roy, the high-flying chairman and managing director of the group, and he attributes a lot of this involvement to emotional decisions.
"We think everything very emotionally," he says, though those in the know of things say there is cold business sense in all this.
In a rare exclusive interview with Gulf News, Roy holds court on the umbrella of sports sponsorships under his company — and why they fall for it every time. Following are the excerpts:
GULF NEWS: The acquisition of a 42.5 per cent stake in the F1 team is a new feather in the cap of Sahara Group. How far will this decision help in making Sahara a global entity?
SUBRATA ROY: The decision to enter F1 was completely an emotional one, but it has business logic into it. You see, we at Sahara are very emotional people. We think everything very emotionally. We plan very emotionally.
As for your question about this making Sahara a global entity, I would like to say that at this moment apart from India, we have business interests in the United Kingdom and also Australia. These two are cricket-playing countries, so Sahara is very well known and popular there as well. In London, we have Grosvenor House also, so we don't need any support globally. In future it might help, but I don't know as of now. At this moment, there is no such benefit.
While the reach of F1 is much higher than cricket, success on the tracks is that much difficult to achieve. What is your target for the 2012 season?
It is true that Formula One has tremendous reach; its viewership is only second to the Olympics or the football World Cup. It is watched by hundreds of millions of viewers across the world over 135 countries. In India, it is taking roots.
As far as targets are concerned, the team finished in sixth position in the Constructors' rankings this year and we look forward for reaching the top position as soon as possible.
As for micro level, it will be very difficult to give any kind of comment at this moment. We are having a major meeting with the F1 team where engineering side, technical side and everybody involved will present the details to us. At that time, I will be in a better position to tell you about the micro levels.
Sports sponsorship seems to give you the biggest kick, so much so that some of Sahara's decisions seem to be quite impulsive. For example, acquiring an IPL team despite spending such whopping sum for Indian cricket teams; how do you explain this?
These decisions were emotional ones. Since inception, we had always accorded priority to those activities, which generate these positive emotions in a human being and sport is one of them. Sport channelises the very dominating instinct of competitiveness which propels every human being to win. I always believed that sport is not only an avenue for entertainment, physical or mental exercise, but perhaps much more than that.
Overall, the association and support to sports is an emotional decision and endeavour to promote sports which represent the most spirited, healthy and energetic facet of the society, and which transcends the barriers of nation and nationality and unifies all human beings in one emotional bond.
Besides, we have now also entered into the business aspect of sport with IPL and now Sahara Force India. I see great business value in these sports in future.
In the last 10 years of sponsorship of the national cricket team, what was your greatest moment of pride: Dhoni & Co winning the World Cup?
Our association started to support and development of cricket. It was a great moment for us and was the pinnacle of our association with cricket to watch our Indian team lifting the World Cup. In addition to this, the victory of the inaugural T20 World Cup by our team was also a moment to cherish.
Given the strength of the team on paper, Pune Warriors India's performance in IPL IV was quite disappointing. What remedial measures do you plan to take for the next season?
We didn't do well in our first year; we have to do that now. We are having detailed discussion about it, on where we are lacking in batting and bowling at different positions, which player should be promoted etc. We have to add certain things and strengthen the team this year. This year there will be one more auction where we may get some good players out of it.
After buying the IPL franchise, you had hinted at the possibility of going for an IPO to mobilise funds for the future. Do you think Brand IPL is still strong enough for such a move?
We do not have any such thinking at the moment.
Brand Sahara has always taken pride on national sentiments. Is it the reason why you also sponsor the national hockey team?
Hockey is our national sport and as I said, we at Sahara, are very emotional people. We have that attachment towards the growth, development and the progress of Indian hockey. And if you see the current success of the Indian hockey team, we are confident that hockey is on the path of progress and revival.
Under the umbrella
- Sahara has adopted Indian boxing, wrestling, archery, shooting, track and field and tennis teams, providing support to 95 sportsmen in these disciplines who are potential medal winners till London Olympics 2012.
- Employed with Sahara: Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Jyotirmay Sikdar, Zaheer Khan, Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Ajit Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Leander Paes, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Kaif, Virendra Sehwag, Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Shri Deep Das Gupta, Ranadeb Bose and Bula Chowdhury.
