Bombay Sport Exchange: 'Bollywood took India to the world, but Sachin took Indian sport to the world' - Apollo Tyres MD Neeraj Kanwar

For Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Apollo Tyres Ltd, recollects when his company won the rights to sponsor the Indian cricket team jersey, and the importance of this achievement.

Apollo Tyres bagged the sponsorship rights of the Indian team, winning a three-way race with a stunning bid of Rs 579 crore. The sponsorship deal spans two-and-a-half years. This is Apollo Tyres' first-ever foray into India cricket.



“I honestly didn’t even get time to look at social media,” Kanwar told K Shriniwas Rao, Head of Content (Sports), Times Internet, on the new episode of Bombay Sport Exchange (BSE).

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“It was such an exciting moment in my life — pride, joy, emotion. We had done something big, not just for the company but for India.”

What made the moment even more remarkable was how organic the decision had been. Just days before the bid, Kanwar received an email from a junior middle-management employee in Chennai suggesting Apollo Tyres should consider bidding after Dream11 exited. “It came completely out of the cuff,” he recalls. “We were already in the process, but that email stayed with me. It showed belief from within.”

Sponsoring the Indian team jersey has often been viewed as a poisoned chalice, with several past sponsors facing turbulence. Kanwar says the perception never rattled him. “The foundation my father built since 1976 is extremely strong. Apollo is not a short-term company. We are a global corporate with 20,000 employees, investors and shareholders. That gave me the confidence to bid — and to commit for the long term.”

Sport has been central to Apollo’s brand journey for nearly two decades. The company first ventured into tennis with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2008, before pivoting to football. Apollo Tyres has been Manchester United’s global tyre partner for over 12 years, rare example of longevity in sports sponsorship.

In 2016, Apollo associated with Sachin Tendulkar, a move Kanwar describes as instinctive. “Bollywood took India to the world, but Sachin took Indian sport to the world. His passion, commitment and integrity align perfectly with Apollo’s values.”

The Indian cricket jersey, however, represents something larger. Kanwar sees Indian cricket today as a premium global brand — one that mirrors Apollo’s own ambitions. “It’s about leadership, responsibility, uniting India and premiumisation,” he said. “What the boys in blue have done over the years is phenomenal.”

He extends that admiration to women’s cricket, recalling the goosebumps he felt watching India lift the World Cup, including the historic win over Australia.

"Indian cricket, the boys in blue have done an amazing job in the past several years. From where they were after Kapil Dev won the 1983 ODI World Cup to what it is today and then T20 coming in and then IPL coming in. The brand of cricket in the world from India has become a very premium brand.

"And that is what Apollo Tyres is about. It's about corporate responsibility. It's about uniting India. It's about leadership. It's about premiumization. So all these values that I see in the Indian cricket team, what the boys have done is amazing. And then the women winning the World Cup also just happened. And it just so happened that we were on the T-shirt again. And it gives me goosebumps when I saw the final and you would have also seen the semifinal on how these women played with so much commitment, passion. And they won the cup. And to beat Australia is a big, big thing. That in itself was a final other than South Africa," he said.


Kanwar believes Indian cricket has surpassed Bollywood as India’s biggest global export and soft power. “Wherever I travel, people talk about Indian cricket. It’s massive,” he said. He points to the rapid growth of cricket in the US and Europe, driven largely by the IPL and the Indian diaspora. “There are 56 professional teams in Atlanta alone. Twenty years ago, who imagined India playing the US?”

For Kanwar, the rise of Indian cricket is not accidental. “It’s because of our players, their professionalism and how India has transformed the game. Cricket today is global because India made it so.”


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