The International Cricket Council (ICC) has cautioned the BCCI that unless the Indian government allows full tax exemption, the ICC Champions Trophy 2021 will be taken away from BCCI (India).
At the board meeting in Dubai on Friday, the ICC also decided to look for alternate host countries in case the talks fail.
A press release from the ICC said: "The Board expressed their concern around the absence of a tax exemption from the Indian Government for ICC events held in India despite ongoing efforts from both the ICC and BCCI to secure the exemption which is standard practice for major sporting events around the world. The Board agreed that ICC management, supported by the BCCI, will continue the dialogue with the Indian Government, but in the meantime directed ICC management to explore alternative host countries in a similar time zone for the ICC Champions Trophy 2021.’’
The members are peeved that the governing body lost a revenue to the tune of Rs. 125 crore from the ICC Twenty20 World Cup staged in India in 2016 because the Indian government did not give tax exemption for the event.
It is understood that Star India paid 10 per cent of the revenue it earned from the ICC Twenty20 to the tax authorities in India and deducted the same amount it was obligated to pay to the ICC on account of media rights.
India is also scheduled to hold the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup with the 2019 edition being held in England.
While the UPA government gave tax exemption for the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 (won by Australia at the CCI) and also the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 (won by India at the Wankhede), the NDA government did not do so for the ICC Twenty20.
The ICC Board also agreed to allocate a sum of $40 million each to the new full members, Ireland and Afghanisthan for the current eight-year commercial cycle.
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