Our starting point was that India's sporting challenge was not a shortage of talent alone. It was a fragmented system. Athletes, coaches, federations, academies, competitions, sports science and support services operated across disconnected structures, making it difficult to create a continuous pathway from identifying talent to developing, supporting and ultimately producing elite athletes.

In our first major policy paper on Indian sport, we proposed a different approach: a nationwide, technology-enabled sports ecosystem built around shared digital infrastructure. We proposed a structured pathway from grassroots to elite sport; integrated sports science and medicine; data-driven performance and talent development; and stronger coordination between the many institutions that make up Indian sport.
 

At the heart of our proposal was a digital architecture comprising a unified athlete identity, a centralised athlete database, digital training and performance tools, sports science and medicine infrastructure, financial and logistical systems, and interoperable communication across the ecosystem.
 

We shared the paper with government. And then we kept making the case. Through continued policy advocacy and public commentary, Avinyum argued that technology should not sit at the edge of Indian sport as another application or platform. It should become part of the infrastructure of the sporting system itself.

On 31 July 2026, the Union Cabinet approved a radically expanded Khelo India framework for 2026–27 to 2030–31, with a combined outlay of ₹36,441 crore for the revamped Khelo India Scheme and enhanced assistance to National Sports Federations. The Government described it as the country's most ambitious sports development programme since Independence.
 

What makes this development significant for Avinyum is not simply the scale of the investment. It is the architecture. For the first time, the national framework explicitly envisages a unified digital sports platform integrating athlete databases, infrastructure, competitions, coaching resources, talent assessments, funding and Fit India participation. The Government says the platform is intended to enable data-driven planning, transparent governance and personalised athlete development.
 

The revamped scheme also establishes a comprehensive athlete development pathway—from talent identification and scientific training to international competition and Olympic preparation—and a nationwide ecosystem of training and excellence centres.
 

The notified framework makes Sports Technology a standalone component, with a Khelo India Digital Ecosystem comprising a National Sports Repository System, Athlete Management System, Games Management System and Federation Management System. It also introduces performance monitoring and athlete management systems, while integrating sports science, nutrition, mental health, sports medicine, athlete welfare and life skills into the training ecosystem.
 

These are not isolated technological features. Taken together, they represent a shift towards the kind of integrated, data-enabled national sports ecosystem that Avinyum had argued for in its original policy work.
 

We put the idea of a shared digital infrastructure for Indian sport into the policy conversation before it became part of the national architecture.
 

And today, a national sports framework formally incorporates many of the same building blocks: integrated athlete data, digital athlete management, technology-enabled talent development, interconnected sporting institutions, and a nationwide digital ecosystem.