CALCUTTA. July 6: Mohun Bagan, one of India's oldest and best known football clubs, is going corporate to tide
over a severe funds crunch.
The 107-year-old Calcutta-, ii^Sked. club will changes4to -nomenclature to form a public limited company in the current . financial year, say club officials.
Club secretary Anjan Mitra says Mohun Bagan plan to get involved in a big way In the business of manufacturing and marketing sports goods and accessories in partnership with top Indian and international sports companies.
Mohun Bagan will enter the capital market to raise 74 million rupees of the initial capital outlay of 400 million rupees needed for this. The total membership fee of 25 million rupees will be converted into shares in favour of the 7,400-odd club members. Another 300 million rupees is expected to come from financial institutions, banks, and Joint venture partners as share participation.
Mitra says the club will use its goodwill to tie up with top Indian or international com: panles like Tata. Adidas. Nike and Reebok for the manufac-. ture and marketing of sports goods.
The products to be made with imported machinery and , knowhow may be branded Tata-'Bggan, Adidas-Bagan. Nike or Reabok-Bagan. They will be targetted at niche markets in India. Bangladesh. Bhutan. Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Mohun Bagan executive committee members have cleared the idea in principle and will pass a resolution to this effect in their next meeting. after which it will be placed before the general body meeting for ratification.
According to Mitra, Mohun Bagan are finding it difficult to make ends meet. With a paltry annual income of 1.8 million rupees, the club has to seek alternate sources for the four million rupees needed to run the club. This comes from private sponsors who pay for use of their logos by Mohun Bagan players. The club also depends on donation from rich fans, like Tata Tea which donated 1.5 rupees million this year. Court cases are also pending against the club.
Officials say opening the door to the corporate sector will also raise club standards by allowing professionals, good doctors and sports officials to be hired.
The club's vice president and former Indian captain. Chuni Goswami, says that at least 20 million rupees are needed every year to run a football club of international standard because of the high cost of hiring professional players and providing the players necessary comfort, medical, insurance and other facilities.
Goswami underlines the need for privatisation as early as possible to run clubs professionally. He says the concept is not new. There is scope for investing nearly two billion rupees on Indian football clubs within the next five years, he says. ।
Mohun Bagan's plans to go corporate have inspired others too. Arch rivals East Bengal have also got a local sponsor. Another big Calcutta club. Mohammedan Sporting, is also trying to raise corporate funds. "We are to get a suitable proposal," says club secretary Omar All.
Officials of the Calcutta Stock Exchange say that given the popularity of football in this part of the country, football clubs wgHddKfind It difficult to raise money in the market.
Indian companies like JCT of Punjab have been spending large sums in promoting football for quite some time. The company is engaged in a number of areas and presently spends some 20 million rupees per annum on its football club out of the company's annual publicity budget of 80 to 100 million rupees.
Dozens of foreign players, mainly from African countries like Nigeria, are playing for top teams and they are vying with each other to sign them with lucrative offers.
— Source: India Abroad Newsservice