MUMBAI: After missing out on Rio 2016 Olympics ticketing by a whisker, India budded international ticketing giant Kyazoonga has invested over Rs 100 crore to sign a multi-year deal with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the official T20 championship in West Indies. Kyazoonga will provide complete proprietary ticketing and accreditation solution, as part of the association.

The deal underscores the company’s global ambitions where it is making a mark by displacing established players and disrupting legacy practices and systems. The company ticketed the CPL last year as well and the experience enthralled the venture to go for a multi-year deal, says Kyazoonga co-founder & CEO Neetu Bhatia.

CPL CEO Damien O’ Donohoe had earlier said, ‘We have been extremely pleased with the technology, operational and system capabilities and the quality of service that Kyazoonga has brought to CPL’s ticketing programme. Having worked with other major ticketing service providers in the world, Kyazoonga felt like a breath of fresh air when they were able to quickly set up ticketing operations across multiple countries in the region and successfully overcome all the challenges that come with a geographically and culturally diverse ticketing market.  We are delighted with the deal that will help us grow the tournament bigger and better. The team from Kyazoonga never ceases to pleasantly surprise us with their positive, technology-driven approach to come up with solutions.”

“The experience of cricket is different in Caribbean Island. It is fun filled, passionate and people love the tournament. Shah Rukh Khan recently invested big in the tournament, Hero came in as the title sponsor and most importantly there are quality players playing the game. So, overall I feel it’s a great tournament, which will get bigger and better with time and that’s why we signed this long term deal,” adds Bhatia.

The CPL, a highly popular league with a wide array of international cricket stars, continues to expand and grow stronger. The league has a six team format with representation from the six main cricket playing countries – Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Lucia. Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recently bought Trinidad & Tobago team. In the Indian subcontinent, Sony Six and Sony Six HD will telecast the matches live.   

The ticketing industry in India is growing fast, thanks to the growth of internet. As per analysis, the e-ticketing gate revenue in the country is over $10 billion. Reportedly, India with over 300 million internet users has already dethroned US to become the number two country in terms of consumption of internet.

But, the e-ticketing penetration is restricted to a mere 20 per cent which signifies a huge scope of growth and possible emergence of a cluster of new e-ticketing ventures. Every month India is adding 5-6 million internet users and a mammoth 650 million users is estimated to be online by 2020 – of which 250 million will shop online – spending over $50 billion as per a recent Bain report. The report also suggests that mobile phones will dominate 70 per cent of the total number of internet users.

Rural India, where internet is yet to witness total emergence also contributes highly to the ticketing revenue, asserts Bhatia.

She further says, “Our experience with Raipur was highly encouraging. We generated over Rs 9 crore per match which proves that e-ticketing can grow immensely irrespective of geography and demography.”

Goods and Service Tax (GST) can play a vital role in the growth of this industry also. “We need one tax policy and GST can bring that. I have seen people cancelling or shifting events because of tax irregularity and hence with GST we can avoid that,” opines Bhatia.

Kyazoonga introduced professionalized e-ticketing in sports and entertainment to India in 2007 and has continued to democratise access to some of the largest events in the sub-continent such as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the Sachin Tendulkar Retirement Test, several IPL teams since the first season, Bryan Adams India Concert Tour, Guns N’ Roses India Concert Tour and the annual Jaipur Literature Festival among others.