Bengaluru: As Diageo prepares to sell Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the current IPL champions and one of its most valuable franchises, speculation has mounted on potential bidders. Among the local names doing the rounds are Bengaluru-based billionaires Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of discount brokerage platform Zerodha, and Ranjan Pai, chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG). Both are Kannadigas and, being billionaires, have the financial clout to bid for a franchise worth more than a billion dollars. Any consortium buying RCB will want a local face to connect with RCB’s passionate fanbase and to have buy-in from the city and state’s political and social establishment. While Diageo on Wednesday confirmed that it had set in motion the process of selling RCB, it was Adar Poonawalla’s tweet on October 1 — “At the right valuation, @RCBTweets is a great team” — that brought to public notice that the Bengaluru team, with Virat Kohli as its anchor player, was in play. Poonawalla is the CEO of Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, and his family, according to Forbes, is worth more than $20 billion. A consortium comprising Kamath, Pai and possibly Poonawalla might make a bid for the franchise, sources told TOI. An email sent to Pai and messages to Kamath’s team didn’t elicit a response till the time of going to press. According to Forbes, Pai has an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion, while Kamath’s stands at $2.5 billion. Being one of the world’s most successful sports leagues, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen its valuation explode in recent years, eliciting huge investor interest. A Forbes report from 2022 pegged RCB’s value at just over $1 billion. That was three years ago and before they won the championship this year. The figure would be significantly higher now. A comprehensive valuation report on the IPL and its franchises conducted by investment firm Houlihan Lokey showed the IPL’s business value reaching $18.5 billion and brand value $3.9 billion in 2025. RCB has the highest brand value among IPL franchises at $269 million.
