Indian billionaires make record-breaking bets on IPL teams

Forbes reports that a consortium including Kumar Birla’s Aditya Birla group bought Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.8 billion in March 2026. Two months later, Lakshmi Mittal and Adar Poonawalla acquired Rajasthan Royals at a $1.65 billion valuation. Citing Houlihan Lokey, Forbes says the deals helped raise the IPL’s total enterprise value to $20.6 billion from $15.4 billion in 2023; cricket accounts for 89% of India’s annual sports revenue.