Sponsorship levels in India: title, presenting, principal, associate and official partner
The title sponsor's name goes into the property's name; presenting sponsors are mostly sold by broadcasters; principal and associate sponsors take shirt positions; official partners each hold one product category. Every level with two real deals and their sources, and what the BCCI blocks.
By Saurabh Garg, founder of C4E · Published 7 Nov 2026 · How we check
An Indian sponsorship is sold in levels, and the name of each level tells you what the brand gets. The title sponsor's name goes into the property's name, as TATA's does in the TATA IPL. Below it come presenting or principal sponsors, then associate sponsors, then official partners who each hold one product category. There is no standard rulebook: each rights holder names its own levels, and the same word can mean different things at a league, a team and a TV show.
What are the sponsorship levels in India?
From the top, with two deals for each from our record, each linked to its source.
| Level | Examples |
|---|---|
| Title sponsor or title partnerThe brand name goes into the property’s name. On a team, it is the front of the shirt. | TATA at TATA IPL, 2024 to 2028 (IPL)MG at MG Indian Super League, 2026–27 (MG Motor India) |
| Presenting or co-presenting sponsorMostly a television and streaming tier: “presented by” on the show or the broadcast, sold by the channel. | Google Gemini at Kaun Banega Crorepati 18, 2026 (afaqs)Vaseline at Bigg Boss 20, 2026 (JioStar) |
| Powered byA second name attached to the event name, below the title. | Crunchyroll at Comic Con India, 2025 (afaqs)Krafton at afaqs! Media Quest Summit, 2026 (afaqs) |
| Principal sponsor or principal partnerAn IPL team’s top tier after the title. The logo sits on the front or back of the playing shirt. | Sun Pharma at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2026 to 2028 (afaqs)FedEx at Chennai Super Kings, from 2025 (FedEx) |
| Associate sponsor or associate partnerThe tier below principal: a smaller placement on the shirt, or a credit on a show. | Malaysia Airlines at Mumbai Indians, 2026 (BestMediaInfo)OPUL at NorthEast United, 2026–27 (SportsMint) |
| Official partner, by categoryOne brand per product category, named for it: hydration, paint, ticketing, banking. | Nippon Paint at Indian Super League, 2026–27 (SportsMint)BookMyShow at SC Delhi, 2026–27 (SportsMint) |
| A named moment or positionThe brand buys one thing on screen or on the kit: the time-out, the umpires, the trousers, the back of the shirt. | CEAT at IPL, Strategic timeout, 2024 to 2028 (IPL)8PM Packaged Drinking Water at Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lead trouser sponsor, 2026 (indiantelevision.com) |
| Kit partnerMakes the kit, and usually sells the replica shirt. | Nike at Mumbai Indians, from 2027 (Nike)Trak-Only at FC Goa, 2026–27 (SportsMint) |
What is the difference between a title sponsor and a presenting sponsor?
The title sponsor is part of the name: the league is the MG Indian Super League this season, and the cricket league is the TATA IPL. A presenting sponsor stands next to the name, and in India it is mostly a broadcaster's tier. On the IPL, the BCCI sells one set of levels and the broadcaster sells another. Google Search AI Mode is an Official Premier Partner on the BCCI's list for 2026 (IPL) and, separately, a co-presenting sponsor of JioStar's broadcast (JioStar): two deals with two sellers for the same matches.
What does a principal sponsor get on an IPL team?
On IPL teams the top shirt slot goes by three names. Kolkata Knight Riders call VIDA its title partner, Royal Challengers Bengaluru call Nothing its main principal partner, and Rajasthan Royals use the same words for Waaree. All three mean the front of the shirt. Below that, principal partners take other shirt positions: Sun Pharma is on the front of Bengaluru's playing shirt with Nothing, and FedEx is on the back of Chennai's. The full rosters are on each team's page, and every lead sponsor for 2026 is in IPL 2027 sponsors.
Can two brands from the same category sponsor one property?
Not at the same level. When the BCCI invited bids for official partner rights for the Women's Premier League in October 2025, it blocked financial services and banking, passenger cars, water solutions and pipes, and nutrition, “on account of the BCCI having existing sponsors within the said Product Categories”, and said bids in those categories would be ineligible (BCCI). Its tender for the IPL title in December 2023 shut out alcohol, betting, crypto, real-money gaming and tobacco altogether (BCCI).
Levels below can still overlap. Kingfisher's packaged water is the IPL's Official Good Times Partner while Bisleri was hydration partner of five IPL teams in 2025 (afaqs). If you are selling a slot, the guide to finding sponsors for an event in India shows which brands already buy which levels.
The names keep multiplying because each one is a separate invoice. A property that can sell a strategic timeout, an umpire's shirt and a trouser leg has three more sponsors than one that sells a single shirt.
How we checked: every example is a deal on Monumentum's record, with the level named as the rights holder, the brand or the trade outlet named it. BCCI quotations from its own releases, opened on 6 November 2026. See how we check.