Badminton Star PV Sindhu’s Stock Rises In India’s Sponsorship Market

The 21-year-old Rio Olympic silver medalist, currently stands second on the list of most valuable Indian sports earners for each day of endorsements, behind only cricketing superstar Virat Kohli. Her rise to the top 5 in the world badminton rankings has simultaneously raised her endorsement value, sprinting past Dhoni and female counterparts such as Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza.

Speaking to local media, Tuhin Mishra, managing director and co-founder at Baseline Ventures, the sports management firm representing her, “Sindhu is clearly the No 1 woman athlete in the country and among the top two-three sportsperson for India,” We are looking at creating long-term equity for her with brands and are ensuring that her playing time is not impacted by endorsements.”

According to Mishra, Sindhu’s current endorsement fee ranges from US$150k to $US185K a day. Kohli is learnt to charge US$300k from brands for a day, higher than what Dhoni charged at his peak. In August 2016, Sindhu became the first Indian woman athlete to win the Olympic silver. Since then, her fees have increased to more than US150k from US$22k to US$37k, two officials in the talent management space said.

Sindhu has already signed deals worth ~US$4.5m in the past five months as part of the three-year Baseline deal guaranteeing a minimum US$7.5m. Sindhu’s latest endorsement deal is with Reckitt Benckiser for its Moov pain reliever. Other brands that have signed her on since the medal include online fashion store Myntra, APIS Himalaya Honey and state-run lender Bank of Baroda. She is also the poster girl of the government’s biggest indirect-taxes reform since independence, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.