Sahara, Airtel will bid for Team India sponsorship

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Sahara India Parivar and Bharti Airtel have lined up for the Indian team's sponsorship for the next three-and-half years.

According to sources in the Indian cricket board (BCCI), the two groups submitted the eligibility documents and security deposits on Saturday.

The bid will be submitted on Monday and thereafter, BCCI's marketing committee will decide on the new sponsor of Team India.

Sources said that Sahara will bid only for the Indian team while Bharti will bid for the Indian team (base price of Rs 2.5 crore per match), India-A team (base price: Rs 25 lakh per match), Under-19 team (base price: Rs 25 lakh per match) and the women's team (base price: Rs 10 lakh per match).

Bharti, though, seem to have a problem on hand. If it wins the bid, it cannot display its Airtel logo during ICC events because of a clash of interest -Reliance (another telecom company) is one of the ICC sponsors.

Reliance's contract with ICC ends in 2015 while the Indian team's logo sponsorship will end on December 31, 2014. In the next three-and-half years, the Indian team is scheduled to play in three ICC tournaments - 2011 World Cup, 2012 T20 Championship and 2013 Champions Trophy.

However, the BCCI officials were quick to clarify. "If there is a clash of interest, Bharti will have to use the logo of any other product from its stable during ICC events," a top BCCI official told TOI.