India becomes world's biggest fantasy sports market with 13 crore users: Report
Cricket will continue growing at 30 percent CAGR over the next four years and remain the highest contributor to the overall revenue of the fantasy sports industry.
March 15, 2022 / 08:51 PM IST
India's fantasy sports market is projected to grow from Rs 34,600 crore in FY21 to an estimated Rs 1,65,000 crore by FY25, clocking a CAGR of 38 percent.
According to a report by the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) in collaboration with Deloitte, India is the world’s biggest fantasy sports market with a user base of over 13 crore.
The report said that the total revenue attributable to the fantasy sports industry is Rs 10,700 crore, including Rs 5,500 crore indirect revenue in FY21 through its vendors and service providers.
Cricket will continue growing at 30 percent CAGR over the next four years and remain the highest contributor to the overall revenue of the fantasy sports industry. One of the key cricketing properties, the Indian Premier League (IPL), was a big contributor last year in addition of users in the fantasy sports space. During Phase 1 of the 2021 edition of IPL, the fantasy sports industry user base in India grew by over 20 lakh users.
While cricket will remain the dominant sport on fantasy sports platforms (FSP), it is likely to see its share going to other sports such as kabaddi, hockey, football and volleyball which are growing in popularity.
When it comes to users in the fantasy sports space, it is estimated that close to 30 percent of the registered user base for FSPs in India is female users, a number that is expected to consistently rise in the next few years, the report said. Globally the fantasy sports user base has been male dominated with men accounting for 67 percent of the total revenue.
In addition, 50 percent of user transactions on the fantasy sports platforms come in through tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
"Fantasy sports industry is making huge economic inroads into India's overall growth and development in multiple ways - creating highly skilled jobs, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and generating significant revenue for the exchequer. Besides, it is also propelling sporting culture and giving a boost to non-cricket sports as people tend to hone knowledge to participate in fantasy sports contests," said FIFS chief executive officer Anwar Shirpurwala.
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