Top News

In the developed countries of the world, excellent sports infrastructure, special training programs and many other schemes are run to promote sports and players. Due to this, these countries perform well in Olympics, Commonwealth and other major international sports events. India also started the ‘Khelo India’ program with the aim of promoting sports and bringing forward new talent. This scheme was launched in October 2017. Khelo India is a flagship sports development scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, which aims to identify players from the grassroots level and provide them better opportunities to grow.

The players selected under this scheme are called Khelo India Athletes (KIA). Every athlete is given financial assistance of Rs 6.28 lakh every year by the government. This also includes pocket expenses of Rs 10,000 every month. If we look at the figures, 2,711 athletes were selected for this financial assistance in 2019-20. At the same time, this number has increased to 2,905 in 2025-26. This means that the government is spending around Rs 182.43 crore only on direct financial assistance to these athletes. However, this amount is only assistance given directly to the players. Apart from this, under the Khelo India scheme, the government also spends crores of rupees separately on sports infrastructure, coaching, training facilities and other arrangements.

In such a situation, ever since this scheme was started, thousands of crores of rupees have been spent on it. After which the biggest question is whether all the states of the country got equal opportunity? Did the states which got more players, better facilities and more help also produce the most medal winners? And did the hidden talents in small states get the same support as the players from big states?

How many athletes have been selected in Khelo India so far?

According to Rajya Sabha’s answer to Unstarred Question No. 797 given on 5 February 2026, the data from 2019-20 to 2025-26 under the Khelo India Scheme shows that sports talent is being continuously promoted in the country. In the year 2019-20, 2,711 players were associated with this scheme. In the very next year i.e. 2020-21, this number increased to a record level of 3,030. After this, the number of players remained between 2,750 to 2,850 for a few years but in 2025-26 this figure again increased to 2,905.

If we talk about big states, Haryana continues to be the strongest performing state in the country. 514 Khelo India athletes from Haryana have been selected in the year 2025-26, which is the highest in any state. After this, 314 athletes from Maharashtra, 189 from Uttar Pradesh, 186 from Tamil Nadu, 168 from Rajasthan and 164 from Karnataka have been selected.

The most interesting thing is that Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of the country, is far behind Haryana. Haryana, which has less population, is producing almost three times more athletes than Uttar Pradesh. Whereas Maharashtra has seen a decline in the last few years, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have shown significant improvement in their performance.

The performance of small states has also been surprising in many cases. The biggest example of this is Manipur. This sparsely populated state is continuously showing excellent participation in the Khelo India scheme. In the year 2025-26, 124 Khelo India athletes have been selected, whereas in the last few years this number has reached 255. Similarly, relatively smaller states like Odisha and Jharkhand have also consistently performed well and strengthened their presence. At the same time, small states and union territories like Sikkim, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar are still able to produce very less number of athletes.

How much budget was spent on Khelo India?

According to the Rajya Sabha’s answer to unstarred question number 154 on January 29, 2026, after the launch of the Khelo India scheme, its budget has continuously increased. In the year 2016-17, Rs 118.10 crore was given for this scheme and the entire amount was spent. After this, the budget increased to Rs 350 crore in 2017-18 and to Rs 500.09 crore in 2018-19. For the first time in the year 2019-20, the budget of this scheme crossed Rs 578 crore, out of which Rs 575.52 crore was spent. At the same time, during the Corona epidemic, the budget decreased to Rs 328.77 crore in 2020-21, but the government spent Rs 338.06 crore. That is, more money was spent than the fixed budget.

After the Corona epidemic, the government increased the pace of increasing expenditure on Khelo India. In the year 2021-22, a budget of Rs 869 crore was fixed for this scheme, which was the largest allocation till that time. However, out of this only Rs 764.29 crore could be spent, meaning the entire amount could not be utilised. After this, out of the fixed Rs 600 crore in 2022-23, Rs 596.39 crore was spent.

Whereas in 2023-24, out of the budget of Rs 880 crore, Rs 872.20 crore was spent. That means, about 99 percent of the budget was used in these two years. However, after this the budget again saw cuts. Khelo India’s budget reduced to Rs 746.54 crore in 2024-25. At the same time, in 2025-26 it was further reduced to Rs 700 crore. Till January 15, 2026, Rs 628.91 crore had been spent in this financial year.

In which states did investment translate into national or international success?

Selection of athletes under Khelo India scheme started from 2019-20. Therefore, it would not be right to directly link the results of 2018 and 2023 Asian Games, 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games, Tokyo Olympics 2020 and National Games 2022 and 2023 with Khelo India. Till then the players had received very little training under the scheme. At the same time, the analysis of Paris Olympics 2024 and National Games 2025 can be considered more correct, because the players had got time of four-five years.

India won 6 medals in Paris Olympics 2024. Among these, 2 players from Haryana, while 1 each from Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi were medal winners. Apart from this, the Indian men’s hockey team also won the bronze medal. On the other hand, 14,068 athletes were selected under Khelo India between 2019-20 to 2023-24. Among these, maximum players were from Haryana (2,104), Maharashtra (1,839), Delhi (1,023), Manipur (878) and Karnataka (750).

These figures show that states like Haryana and Maharashtra are ahead in Khelo India and are performing well at the international level as well. However, on the basis of the number of players alone, it cannot be said that any state has won that many international medals. Therefore, it would be better to accurately assess the impact of Khelo India by taking into account the performance of big tournaments like the Olympics, Asian Games, World Championships and National Games.

The impact of the states producing the most athletes under the Khelo India scheme between 2019-20 to 2025-26 was clearly visible in the National Games 2025. Haryana produced the maximum number of 3,108 athletes and stood third by winning 153 medals. Maharashtra fielded 2,478 athletes and finished second with 201 medals. At the same time, Karnataka (1,071 athletes) stood fifth, Tamil Nadu (1,012 athletes) stood sixth and Punjab (1,163 athletes) stood ninth. That is, out of the top-10 states producing the maximum number of athletes under Khelo India, 7 states were also included in the top-10 medal table of the National Games. This clearly shows that the talents being trained by Khelo India are now winning medals at the national level.

However, this did not happen with every state. Delhi (1,326 athletes), Uttar Pradesh (1,240), Manipur (1,111) and Rajasthan (831) produced a large number of athletes, but could not make it to the top-10 in terms of medals. On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh produced only 658 athletes and Uttarakhand produced 382 athletes, yet both the states performed brilliantly and finished fourth and seventh respectively. That is, it is not enough to produce more athletes, it is equally important to provide them good training, better coaching and the right environment for competitions.