It is IPL season again, and viewership across streaming platforms has touched a staggering 52 crore. In India, cricket remains the undisputed leader—unlike football, which dominates globally. World Cup matches routinely draw upwards of 70 crore viewers.

As eyeballs have grown, so has the money. One of the most elegant batters of the Seventies and Eighties, Gundappa Viswanath, earned about ₹1,500 per match before retiring in 1983, I recall. Contrast that with Bihar’s teenage prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, picked up by Rajasthan Royals for ₹1.1 crore in 2024 at age 13. He is eligible for Test cricket only now, after turning 15 in March 2026. The transformation is as dramatic as it is telling.

It is therefore no surprise that IPL franchises are now valued in billions. Royal Challengers Bengaluru was reportedly acquired last month for nearly $2 billion (₹16,680 crore) in an all-cash deal.

The corporatisation of cricket is a natural progression—and to be welcomed. We may soon see franchises listed on Indian stock exchanges. After all, Manchester United is listed in New York and trades at around $17 per share. Franchise valuations today are driven by viewership, advertising, and corporate sponsorships—from jerseys to headbands.

It reflects the spirit of our times: capitalism has permeated football fields, cricket pitches and kabaddi courts. Massive audiences translate seamlessly into monetisation, enabling sports to thrive without leaning on government support. In India, where public resources must prioritise the welfare of the weakest, this is both pragmatic and desirable.

Yet, beneath the headline numbers lies a more disquieting contrast. One of the business groups associated with the RCB acquisition had, just two years ago, declined to infuse further funds into its struggling telecom venture.

The Government of India then converted the company’s dues into equity, becoming the largest shareholder with nearly 49%. The Government is now the owner of what appears like a struggling, if not sinking, enterprise.

This is where the discomfort begins. It resembles a form of asymmetric capitalism, where losses are nationalised while profits are privatised. Can capitalism retain legitimacy if those who take risks are not the ones who bear them?

As India moves towards its goal of Vikasit Bharat, it must expand its influence through economic growth, military strength and ”soft power” on the global stage—but we also have to “Indianise” corporate ethics. Blindly replicating Western models may not suffice. Much of modern corporate thinking draws from the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, who argued that the sole responsibility of business is to maximise shareholder value, regardless of broader social consequences.

This sits uneasily with India’s civilisational ethos. Writing in Young India in 1925, Mahatma Gandhi mentioned the “seven deadly sins,” including “commerce without morality,” alongside others like “pleasure without conscience”, “religion without sacrifice” and “knowledge without character.”

Gandhi proposed “trusteeship” as an alternative to both capitalism and socialism. Wealth, he argued, is a social trust. Captains of industry may create and grow value, but the benefits must ultimately reach society at large.

This idea found resonance among many business leaders of his time. G D Birla, a pioneer of Indian industry and a founder of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was also deeply involved in the freedom movement. He supported the non-cooperation and Quit India movements and remained a close confidante of Gandhiji.

Birla House in Delhi was open to freedom fighters and the Congress leadership. It was on its lawns that Gandhi fell to an assassin’s bullets on his way to evening prayers. Birla also contributed generously to educational institutions. He supported both the Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University, and established BITS Pilani.

Closer to our times, we see similar impulses in individuals like Kochouseph Chittilappilly of the V-Guard Group, a Keralite businessman who donated one kidney to a stranger in 2011. Chittilappilly is an outstanding example of “capitalism with a conscience” and he even now works to provide homes for the homeless.

As India advances economically and seeks parity with global powers, it must evolve a model of capitalism rooted in its own values—anchored in Bharatiya ethics, inclusiveness and responsibility. This cannot be reduced to statutory compliance under Section 135 of the Companies Act. It must emerge from conviction.