Pushkar Nath Srivastava, Founder and Promoter of MotoGP Bharat

In less than a month’s time, India will host its first MotoGP race at The Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. The Indian leg of the MotoGP is named at MotoGP Bharat. MotoGP Bharat is being pipped as a seminal moment for the motorsport race in India as a motorsport race event as popular as MotoGP is coming to the Indian shores after Formula-1 first came to India over a decade ago.

So what made MotoGP host a grand prix in India? What have been the preparations like to host a big of such magnitude? What could be the financial implications of having a MotoGP race in India? Why should sports fans tune in to watch MotoGP Bharat come the race weekend? What are the incentives for people to visit the BIC to watch MotoGP Bharat?

To know answers to some of these questions, CNBCTV18.com had a chat with Pushkar Nath Srivastava, Chief Operating Officer of FairStreet Sports. FairStreet Sports is a sports management company which is the official promoter of MotoGP Bharat. FairStreet Sports has played a critical role in bringing MotoGP to India.

Excerpts of the interview with Pushkar Nath Srivastava are below

Why MotoGP planned to bring race to India?

Pushkar Nath Srivastava: India is the largest bike producing nation. We produce close to 18 million bikes a year. There are more than 200 million bikes on road right now. So we realized that every household in India has a bat and a bike. And MotoGP not having a race in India was a big miss for MotoGP.

So when we approached MotoGP, we explained our preparedness. We explained our government’s readiness. We convinced MotoGP that they will have a good long relation with us. We read all the past history of the motorsports in India and realized that what all mistakes were made in the past should not be made now. When we were able to convince MotoGP that was when it decided to have a race in India.

Could you explain the business of MotoGP Bharat?

Pushkar Nath Srivastava:The race is yet to happen. MotoGP does a study every year on how much economic movement happens during a MotoGP season. So last year MotoGP gave a data that there was close to € 106 million worth of movement on an average. This happens during a MotoGP weekend in any country. In Thailand, which is the third largest bike producer in the world, there was a survey done and it said that around Rs. 1,700 crore worth of business done during the MotoGP weekend. Because it is the first MotoGP race in India we are expecting business around Rs. 100 million. We have invested around Rs. 200 crores in the property.

What efforts have gone behind to bring the MotoGP to India?

Pushkar Nath Srivastava: Back in 2019 we thought of bringing MotoGP to India. Luckily Indian government then classified motorsports as sports. This was the first step and the first hurdle that the government cleared for us. Because till the time motorsports was classified as an “event” we could not get the benefits of sports.

Then we started working during the COVID times. In a closed…