NEW DELHI: Indian badminton sensation Saina Nehwal is entering the big league of the endorsement game, inching closer to cricketing icons MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. A fortnight after she was crowned the women’s world number one badminton player, Nehwal signed a Rs 12-crore 3-year sponsorship-cum-endorsement deal with financial services group Edelweiss, two people aware of the development said on condition of anonymity .
Rs 4 crore a year, this is next only at to what top playing like Dhoni and Kohli earn from such deals. According to market estimates, Dhoni is paid Rs 8-10 crore a year per brand while Kohli gets Rs 6-7 crore.
Until recently , the 25-year-old player was earning Rs 5-7 crore a year from around 10 endorsement deals with brands such as Herbalife, Star Sports, Godrej No Marks, Emami, Sahara, Indian Overseas Bank, Iodex and Commune Builder. The deal with Edelweiss replaces a sim ilar three-year deal Nehwal had with Sahara for around Rs 2 crore a year.
Monetary rewards is still the least ineffective indicator of talent. Over the years, India has shown respect for our cricketing talent this way. It is, indeed, heartening that our top players in other sports are also benefiting by this trend. Stories of ex-Olympic medallists languishing in penury or athletes finding little financial support have outraged us before we lapse back into amnesia. That private enterprise, through sponsorships and endorsements, is not just providing platitudes .
