MCA to build ₹500 Crore corpus for Mumbai grassroots Cricket

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) will build a ₹500 crore corpus for grassroots cricket over the next decade, creating a long-term funding mechanism for clubs, schools and colleges across Mumbai.

The decision was taken at the MCA’s 87th Annual General Meeting at Wankhede Stadium on Friday. The association had previously set up a ₹100 crore grassroots corpus and will now expand it to ₹500 crore through annual contributions.

MCA president Ajinkya Naik said the association will contribute ₹40 crore a year to the corpus for the next 10 years. The principal will be retained as a fixed deposit, with the interest generated from the fund distributed to affiliated organisations.

The structure effectively turns the corpus into an endowment for Mumbai cricket, allowing the association to generate an annual funding stream without drawing down the underlying capital.

Building an endowment for grassroots cricket

The beneficiaries will include maidan clubs, school clubs and college clubs, with the funding intended for equipment, kits, logistics and facilities.

For the MCA, the model represents a shift from annual grassroots allocations towards a dedicated pool of capital designed to provide financial support over a much longer period.

Once the ₹500 crore corpus is fully built, its returns could provide a recurring source of funding while preserving the principal. That would allow the MCA to continue supporting affiliated organisations beyond the initial 10-year contribution period.

The scale of the proposed fund is significant for Mumbai’s cricket structure, which relies heavily on a network of local clubs and institutional competitions to develop players.

The move builds on the MCA’s existing grassroots initiatives. The association has previously approved a ₹100 crore corpus for affiliated clubs and introduced programmes including an Under-12 selection process, a fast-bowling talent hunt and high-performance camps for men and women.

The ₹500 crore commitment therefore marks an expansion of an existing funding strategy rather than a completely new direction. The difference is the scale and the financial structure: instead of relying solely on annual spending, the MCA is building a capital base whose returns can support grassroots cricket on an ongoing basis.

Wankhede to honour Tendulkar, Rahane and Mantri

The MCA also announced plans to name designated lounges at Wankhede Stadium after Sachin Tendulkar, Ajinkya Rahane and former India cricketer Madhav Mantri, who died in 2014.

A three-member committee will decide the locations of the lounges.

For the MCA, however, the larger financial decision is the ₹500 crore grassroots corpus, which seeks to put the association’s support for Mumbai’s cricketing base on a more structured and sustainable footing.