China's Vivo back as IPL title sponsor

CHINESE smartphone maker Vivo will be the title sponsor of the Indian Premium League (IPL) cricket tournament this year.

It comes back as the main sponsor almost a year after the sponsorship deal with the BCCI was suspended amid the India-China border standoff.

Vivo on Wednesday (10) stated that it will expand its portfolio of premium devices, and focus on new technologies like 5G.

"Vivo is back as the title sponsor of IPL and that is very encouraging and exciting for us because IPL is the biggest property in India and is a perfect amalgamation of sports and entertainment, so we are looking forward to 9 April, when IPL begins," Vivo India director brand strategy Nipun Marya told PTI.

"The whole environment has certainly now changed for the better. I think it's befitting that Vivo is back as the IPL title sponsor. Our old contract is as it is and we continue with all the terms and conditions we earlier had on the contract,"

This year's edition of IPL will run from 9 April to May 30 across six Indian venues.

The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the final on 30 May.

Vivo had won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 21.90 billion (£216.35m). It will now be the title sponsor till 2023.

Marya said that Vivo held 27 per cent market share and clocked an annual growth of 10 per cent last year even when the industry shrank by 17 per cent in a pandemic-hit year.

He added that the company has a presence in more than 70,000 outlets and that the brand is doing well across geographies. Vivo will also add about 100 exclusive stores, taking the total number of such stores to 650 by the end of the year.

The revenue of Vivo in India grew by over 45 per cent to about Rs 25,0.60 billion (£2.48bn) in FY20 over the previous fiscal, the company said.