MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has cautioned the that unless the Indian government allows full tax exemption, the ICC Champions Trophy 2021 will be taken away from the BCCI (India).
At the Board meetings in Dubai on Friday, the ICC decided to go ahead with finding an alternate host country. A press release from the ICC said: “The Board expressed its concern around the absence of a tax exemption from the Indian government for ICC events held in India despite ongoing efforts from both the ICC and BCCI to secure the exemption which is standard practice for major sporting events around the world. The Board agreed that ICC management, supported by the BCCI will continue the dialogue with the Indian government, but in the meantime, directed ICC management to explore alternative host countries in a similar time zone for the ICC Champions Trophy 2021.”
The ICC members are peeved that the ICC lost a revenue to the tune of ₹125 crore from the ICC Twenty20 World Cup staged in India in 2016, because the Indian government did not give tax exemption for the event that was won by the West Indies at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
It is understood that Star India paid 10% of the revenue it earned from the ICC T20 to the tax authorities in India and deducted the same amount it was obligated to pay to the ICC on account of media rights.
India is also scheduled to hold the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup; the 2019 edition will be held in England.
