New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed launching a ‘Khelo India Mission’ to focus on systematic development of training centers and trainers over the next decade, giving a boost to the government’s flagship ‘Khelo India’ program to unearth sports talent at the grassroots level. While presenting the Union Budget for the year 2026-27, Sitharaman said that this mission will facilitate integrated talent development programs through various interconnected mediums. The Khelo India program was launched in 2017 and its main objective was to organize national level competitions across all age groups for talent identification.

“The sports sector provides employment, skill development and many job opportunities,” Sitharaman said during her budget speech in the Lok Sabha. Taking forward the initiative of nurturing sporting talent through the Khelo India programme, I propose to launch the Khelo India Mission to bring about a paradigm shift in the sports sector in the next decade.”

He said, “This mission will facilitate integrated talent development in collaboration with training centers at foundation, intermediate and elite levels, systematic development of coaches and support staff, integration of sports science and technology, organizing competitions and leagues to promote and provide a platform for sports culture and development of sports infrastructure for training and competition.” The Finance Minister also said that India has the potential to emerge as a global hub of high quality and affordable sports goods.

“I have proposed a dedicated initiative for sports goods that will promote manufacturing, research and innovation in equipment design as well as materials science,” he said. The Sports Ministry has constituted a task force under the leadership of national coach Pullela Gopichand that recently advocated for creating a pool of high-quality coaches. It has been proposed to introduce a scheme like the Target Olympic Podium Program for coaches to ensure that they get the same financial support as the top players, so as to enhance India’s chances of winning medals in the future. India will host the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and is also in the race to host the Olympic Games in 2036.