Finance
The ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 is expected to begin on October 5 and conclude on November 19 at the world’s largest cricket stadium, Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Aside from Ahmedabad, the BCCI has identified at least ten venues for the mega event. Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot, and Mumbai are among the other locations.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the World Cup will feature 48 matches, including three knockout rounds, over the course of 46 days.
Aside from the final, the BCCI has yet to finalize the venues for any games, as well as the two or three cities where teams will play warm-ups. The complications caused by the monsoon season receding at different points in different parts of India has caused the delay.
Notably, the ICC usually announces World Cup schedules at least a year in advance, but this time the world governing body has been waiting for the BCCI to obtain the necessary clearances from the Indian government as well.
According to the report, the major issues are obtaining a tax exemption for the tournament and obtaining visa clearance for the Pakistan team, which has not played in India except at ICC events since early 2013.
According to reports, the BCCI assured the ICC’s quarterly meetings in Dubai last weekend that visas for the Pakistan contingent would be cleared by the Indian government. Concerning the tax exemption issue, the BCCI is expected to provide an update to the ICC soon on the exact position of the Indian government.
The tax exemption was part of the host agreement signed by the BCCI and the ICC in 2014, when India was awarded three men’s events: the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2018 Champions Trophy (later changed to the 2021 T20 World Cup, which was moved to the UAE and Oman due to the pandemic), and the 2023 ODI World Cup. According to the agreement, the BCCI was “obligated” to assist the ICC (and all of its commercial partners involved in the tournament) in obtaining tax exemptions.
The Indian tax authorities informed the ICC last year that it would be charged a 20% tax order (excluding surcharges) for its broadcast revenue from the 2023 World Cup.
The BCCI stated in a note distributed to its members — state associations — pointed out that any tax “incurred” by ICC would be “adjusted” against the Indian board’s revenues from ICC’s central revenue pool.
The BCCI estimated the ICC’s broadcasting income from the 2023 World Cup at USD 533.29 million in the note.
It stated that the “financial impact” of a 10.92% tax order on that would be approximately UDS 58.23 million (the BCCI’s note listed the figure as USD 52.23 million, which appears to be an error given the percentages listed). That figure would more than double to around USD 116.47 million if the tax component was set at 21.84%, as the Indian tax authorities prefer.
Source:OCN
