The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has revised its norms of assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs) under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs, effective May 23, 2025. This revision, prompted by the commencement of a new Olympic cycle and India's aspirations to host the 2036 Olympic Games, addresses increased costs and emerging challenges. Key changes include mandating NSFs to allocate at least 20% of their annual budget to grassroots development and 10% to coach and technical staff development. NSFs with budgets exceeding 10 crore are required to appoint a High Performance Director (HPD). The scheme also focuses on strengthening academies for high-potential athletes, providing dietary allowances of ₹10,000 per month to probable group athletes, and supporting administrative manpower within NSFs. Financial assistance for national championships, international tournaments in India, diet charges, and coach salaries has been substantially increased.
Key Entities Referenced
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports: The government ministry responsible for youth affairs and sports in India; the primary entity issuing the revised norms.
National Sports Federations: Sports governing bodies in India that receive assistance under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs.
NSFs: Abbreviation for National Sports Federations.
Scheme of Assistance to NSFs: The government program under which financial assistance is provided to National Sports Federations.
February 2022: Date of the last revision of norms for the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs prior to the current revision.
Paris Olympics 2024: The Olympic Games held in Paris in 2024; its conclusion prompted a review of the norms.
2036 Olympic Games: The Olympic Games that India aspires to host.
India: The nation aspiring to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
Key Results Areas: Performance metrics used to evaluate NSFs, abbreviated as KRAs.
KRAs: Abbreviation for Key Results Areas.
High Performance Director: A position that NSFs with an annual budget of 10 crore and above are required to appoint, abbreviated as HPD.
HPD: Abbreviation for High Performance Director.
Senior Group: A category of athletes with high performance potential identified by NSFs of High Priority and Priority sports disciplines.
Junior Group: A category of athletes with high performance potential identified by NSFs of High Priority and Priority sports disciplines.
High Priority sports: A category of sports that receive higher financial assistance for the conduct of national championships.
Priority sports: A category of sports that receive financial assistance for the conduct of national championships.
CEO: Chief Executive Officer; a position for which the funding shall be allocated for administrative personnel to professionally manage the affairs of NSFs
Manish Gautam: Potentially a person involved in the release of this information, or a contact person.
Divyanshu Kumar: Potentially a person involved in the release of this information, or a contact person.
PIB Delhi: Press Information Bureau, Delhi - The source of the posted information.
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports Revises Norms of
Assistance to National Sports Federations
Posted On: 23 MAY 2025 4:19PM by PIB Delhi
The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has revised the norms of assistance to National Sports Federations
(NSFs) under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs. The last revision of norms was done in February 2022. After
the Paris Olympics 2024, a new Olympic cycle has commenced, necessitating a review of the norms in light
of evolving circumstances. This comprehensive review was undertaken to address emerging challenges and to
support India’s aspiration to host the 2036 Olympic Games. While revising the norms, the Ministry has taken
into account the increased costs due to inflation in expenditures associated with training, infrastructure
development, equipment procurement, and athlete welfare programs.
Apart from enhancement in the quantum of assistance for several components, some new measures have also
been introduced for the first time. Under the revised scheme, NSFs are mandated to ensure that at least 20% of
their annual budget is earmarked for grassroots development through their affiliate units, specifically for
junior and youth development, to ensure the development of bench strength.
The revised scheme also emphasizes capacity building. At least 10% of the funding provided under the
scheme will be allocated for the development of coaches and technical staff. This includes the conduct of
training courses in India, courses for Indian personnel abroad, development of coaching curricula,
organization of conferences, seminars, and workshops, and the engagement of foreign or Indian experts for
the conduct of such workshops or courses, including national and international certification programs.
All NSFs will also be required to appoint a Coaching Education Expert dedicated to training trainers. Foreign
experts shall also be mandated to train and build the capacity of local officials and coaches during non-
training periods, as decided by the Government in consultation with the concerned NSF. This requirement will
be part of the Key Results Areas (KRAs).
NSFs with an annual budget of ₹10 crore and above will be required to mandatorily appoint a High-
Performance Director (HPD), who will be responsible for designing and monitoring the overall technical
development programme of the sport. The NSFs shall define KRAs for the HPD, which will be included in
their hiring contracts.
NSFs of High Priority and Priority sports disciplines shall identify probable groups of athletes in two
categories — Senior Group and Junior Group — with high-performance potential. The academies training
these probable group athletes will be strengthened by providing support for coaches and technical staff.
Additional support will be provided for sports science services and specialized equipment.
NSFs will be required to identify and accredit select academies for the training of probable group athletes.
These academies must be selected by the NSFs in a fair and transparent manner. The training programmes
delivered at these accredited academies for each sport will be monitored by the respective HPD. A gap
analysis of each of these academies shall be presented by NSFs in their proposals for funding.
A dietary allowance of ₹10,000 per month will be provided to each probable group athlete for non-camp days,
ensuring that they are not deprived of proper nutrition during these periods.
To professionally manage the affairs of NSFs, support will be provided for the engagement of administrative
manpower. Up to 10% of the funding shall be allocated for administrative personnel such as a CEO or
Director, supported by managers for finance and accounting, competitions, coach development and
procurement, IT, legal affairs, office assistants, interns, etc.The amount of financial assistance for the conduct of national championships, organization of international
tournaments in India, diet charges, and coach salaries has been substantially increased under the revised
scheme.
The financial assistance for the conduct of national championships has been increased to ₹90 lakh for High-
Priority sports and ₹75 lakh for Priority sports, up from the existing ₹51 lakh.
Financial assistance for hosting international events in the country has been doubled to ₹2 crore.
The salary of the Chief National Coach has been increased from ₹5 lakh to ₹7.5 lakh per month, while the
salary of other coaches has been increased from ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh per month.
Diet charges have been increased from ₹690 to ₹1,000 per day per athlete for senior athletes and from ₹480 to
₹850 per day for junior athletes.
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Manish Gautam/Divyanshu Kumar
(Release ID: 2130740)