The Mumbai Cricket Association committed a Rs 500 crore corpus fund for grassroots cricket development at its annual general meeting held at Wankhede Stadium on September 11, 2026. MCA president Ajinkya Naik announced the decision after the AGM concluded.
The fund will benefit maidan clubs, school clubs and college clubs across Mumbai. Rather than being drawn down directly, the principal will remain intact and interest earned on the fixed deposit will be distributed to affiliated clubs for equipment, kits, facilities and logistics.
“For grassroots cricket, we decided to allocate a corpus fund of Rs 500 crores. In the last AGM, we contributed Rs 100 crores and this time we did increase it to Rs 500 crores for our grassroots cricketers, clubs like maidan clubs, school clubs and college clubs,” Naik said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
How will the Rs 500 crore corpus fund work?
The endowment structure is designed to generate a recurring stream of interest income for affiliated clubs without eroding the principal. Clubs retain full flexibility over how they apply those distributions within the permitted categories.
“It’s like an endowment fund. You keep this Rs 500 crores in a fixed deposit, and from that fixed deposit, the interest gets distributed. That is for providing kits, facilities, etc. So it depends on the clubs and how they want to use it. Sometimes they use it for logistics, sometimes they use it for cricket equipment, so there are different ways,” said Naik.
Each affiliated club therefore receives annual interest-based payouts and decides independently whether to direct those funds towards playing equipment, training kits, ground facilities or logistical costs. The arrangement gives smaller maidan clubs the same spending autonomy as larger school and college outfits.
What else did MCA decide at the September 11 AGM?
The AGM also resolved to name three lounges at Wankhede Stadium after Sachin Tendulkar, Madhav Mantri and Ajinkya Rahane. A three-member committee comprising MCA vice-president Jitendra Awhad, apex council member Milind Narvekar and Adv. Ujwal Nikam was constituted to identify and allocate the appropriate spaces within the stadium for each lounge.
MCA separately confirmed that work is under way to erect a statue of Dilip Vengsarkar at the Wankhede complex, adding to the association’s broader effort to honour Mumbai cricket’s heritage at its home ground. On the question of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, MCA stated its position clearly.
“We have not discussed it. We will go by the BCCI decision,” said Naik.
The AGM therefore addressed administrative, infrastructural and recognition matters alongside the headline grassroots funding commitment, with the lounge committee expected to report back to the MCA apex council once the spaces are finalised.
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