Sports schemes: Khelo India, TOPS and Fit India

Sports Management (BBA) · Sports industry and governance · free study notes for exams, placements and interviews

In short

Khelo India, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and the Fit India Movement are the three flagship programmes of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and together form India's sports delivery pyramid: Fit India builds mass participation and fitness, Khelo India finds and trains talent with infrastructure and scholarships, and TOPS funds a small elite group targeting Olympic and Paralympic podiums. They sit under the National Sports Policy 2025 (Khelo Bharat Niti), approved by the Cabinet in July 2025 in place of the 2001 policy, and are operationally run through the Sports Authority of India (SAI), state governments and National Sports Federations. In BBA/BMS sports-management papers they are examined as scheme design, funding, eligibility and monitoring; in interviews they are the standard test of whether a candidate knows how Indian public sports money actually flows. Employers who ask about them include SAI and state sports departments, league and federation operations teams, sports-NGO and CSR programme roles, academies, and sports marketing agencies that bid for Khelo India events.

Explained

1. The policy frame and why three schemes

Sport is a State subject (State List, Seventh Schedule); the Union works through central sector/centrally sponsored schemes, SAI and the federations, which is why Khelo India funds *state* infrastructure and competitions rather than running them directly.
National Sports Policy 2025 (Khelo Bharat Niti) replaced the National Sports Policy 2001. Its broad pillars: excellence on the global stage, sport for economic development (events, tourism, manufacturing), sport for social development (women, tribal, divyangjan, inclusion), sport as a people's movement (fitness), and integration of sport with education in line with NEP 2020.
Pyramid logic: mass base (Fit India) → identification and development (Khelo India) → podium (TOPS). Each scheme has a different unit of analysis — a school, an athlete-in-development, an elite athlete.
Common administrative spine: MYAS frames and funds; SAI executes training, centres and the Mission Olympic Cell; NSFs select teams; states own playfields and school systems; the National Sports Repository System (NSRS) and Khelo India app hold athlete/infrastructure data.
Governance, recognition of federations and the National Sports Governance Act are handled separately — schemes do not override federation law.

2. Khelo India (launched 2017-18)

What it is: a central sector scheme of MYAS that merged three earlier programmes — Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, the Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme and the National Sports Talent Search Scheme — into one revamped Khelo India Scheme.
Twelve verticals (standard exam list): (1) Playfield development, (2) Community coaching development, (3) State-level Khelo India Centres, (4) Annual sports competitions, (5) Talent search and development, (6) Utilisation and creation/upgradation of sports infrastructure, (7) Support to national/regional/state sports academies, (8) Physical fitness of school children, (9) Sports for women, (10) Promotion of sports among people with disabilities, (11) Sports for peace and development, (12) Promotion of rural and indigenous/tribal games.
Scholarship: selected Khelo India athletes receive long-term support — commonly stated as about ₹5 lakh per athlete per year for up to 8 years, covering training, coaching, boarding/lodging, equipment, insurance and sports science, with a monthly out-of-pocket allowance inside that package. Rates and the number of athletes are revised administratively, so quote them as "as notified".
Delivery structures:
- Khelo India Centres (KIC) — district-level small centres, many run by past champion athletes as coaches; target of coverage in every district.
- Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE) — one or more per State/UT, created by upgrading an existing state facility to high-performance standard (over 30 sanctioned).
- Khelo India Accredited Academies (KIAA) — private/government academies accredited to train Khelo India athletes at notified per-athlete rates.
Khelo India Games (competition platform): Khelo India School Games (2018, Delhi) → renamed Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) from 2019 (Pune); Khelo India University Games (KIUG) from 2020 (Bhubaneswar, hosted by KIIT); Khelo India Winter Games (Ladakh/Jammu & Kashmir) from 2020; Khelo India Para Games from December 2023 (New Delhi); Khelo India Beach Games, first edition at Ghoghla Beach, Diu in 2025. Age categories have changed between editions — KIYG now runs principally as an under-18 event; KIUG is open to university students up to the notified age limit (25 years).
KIRTI — Khelo India Rising Talent Identification, launched in 2024: a nationwide, ICT-based scouting programme for the 9-18 age group, with mass assessment camps feeding verified data into the athlete repository; a target of 20 lakh assessments a year was announced.
Advantages: single window for infrastructure + competition + scholarship; data-driven selection; visibility for smaller states and rural/tribal games; creates host-city infrastructure legacy.
Limitations: uneven utilisation of created assets; thin maintenance budgets; dropout of scholarship athletes after the games cycle; dependence on state capacity; event spending can crowd out year-round training.

3. TOPS — Target Olympic Podium Scheme (2014)

Purpose: identify and fund a small set of athletes with realistic medal prospects at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, using the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games as stepping stones.
Mission Olympic Cell (MOC): the decision body that admits, reviews and exits athletes and clears their training plans; chaired by the Director General, SAI, with MYAS officials, the TOPS CEO, eminent sportspersons and experts as members.
Two tiers: Core Group (immediate podium probables) and Development Group (next-cycle probables). Monthly out-of-pocket allowance (OPA) is commonly notified at ₹50,000 for core and ₹25,000 for development athletes, over and above funded training, foreign exposure, coaches, physios, equipment and competition costs.
Junior TOPS (from 2020) extends the model to under-19 athletes, linking Khelo India output to elite support.
Priority disciplines typically include athletics, shooting, archery, badminton, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting and hockey, with others added on performance.
Instruments that work alongside TOPS: the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) of each NSF funded by MYAS, the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) for CSR/private contributions with tax benefit, SAI's National Centre of Sports Science and Research (NCSSR), and national coaching camps.
Advantages: athlete-centric and plan-based rather than federation-centric; funds customised overseas training; performance-reviewed with entry and exit.
Limitations: very narrow coverage; selection disputes and transparency criticism; exit decisions after one bad season; little support for team-sport depth; results in individual, scoreable sports more than in team sports.

4. Fit India Movement (29 August 2019)

Launched on National Sports Day (birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand) and run by MYAS as a nationwide people's movement for physical activity and fitness, not a funding scheme for athletes.
Fit India School certification: schools self-certify against activity, playfield, PE-period and equipment criteria in three levels — Fit India School Flag, Fit India School 3-star and 5-star.
Standard activities: Fit India School Week, Fit India Freedom Run, Fit India Quiz, Fit India Plogging Run, Fit India Cyclothon and "Fit India Sundays on Cycle"; Fit India Mobile App and Fit India Portal for logging and certification.
Fitness assessment protocols (with SAI's Khelo India fitness assessment tools): for ages 5-8, BMI, flamingo balance, plate tapping; for ages 9-18, BMI, 50 m dash, 600 m run/walk, 4×10 m shuttle run, standing broad jump, sit-and-reach, partial curl-ups and push-ups/modified push-ups — scored by age and sex bands and reported as a fitness grade.
Interfaces: Fit India Protocols for different age groups and workplaces; alignment with NEP 2020 (sport as curricular, not co-curricular), Eat Right India and Ayushman Bharat health messaging.
Advantages: near-zero marginal cost, uses existing school and municipal networks, generates mass fitness data, builds the participation base and the sports-goods/fitness market.
Limitations: self-certification means weak verification; participation is event-driven; no direct funding to schools; impact on actual fitness levels is hard to measure.

5. How the three compare and interlock

A child assessed under Fit India/KIRTI may enter a Khelo India Centre, win at KIYG, receive a Khelo India scholarship, move to a KISCE or national camp, and finally be admitted to TOPS Development and then Core.
Funding narrows at each step: lakhs of schools → thousands of athletes → a few hundred TOPS athletes.
Ancillary schemes a student should be able to name: National Sports Awards (Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, Arjuna, Dronacharya, Dhyan Chand lifetime), Special Cash Awards for medal winners, Pension to Meritorious Sportspersons (monthly slabs revised in 2018, ranging roughly ₹12,000-₹20,000 depending on the medal), the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons, and Scheme of Human Resource Development in Sports (fellowships, coach education).

Key points

Khelo India - central sector MYAS scheme from 2017-18 merging RGKA, USIS and NSTSS; 12 verticals.
Twelve verticals - infrastructure, playfields, coaching, competitions, talent search, academies, school fitness, women, divyangjan, peace and development, rural/indigenous games, state centres.
Khelo India scholarship - long-term athlete support, commonly ₹5 lakh a year for up to 8 years, rates as notified.
KIC / KISCE / KIAA - district centres (often coached by past champions), state centres of excellence, accredited academies.
Khelo India Games - School Games 2018 → Youth Games 2019; University Games 2020; Winter Games 2020; Para Games 2023; Beach Games 2025 (Diu).
KIRTI - 2024 nationwide talent identification for ages 9-18 using ICT-based mass assessment.
TOPS - 2014 scheme for Olympic/Paralympic podium probables, revamped 2018, with Junior TOPS from 2020.
Mission Olympic Cell - chaired by DG SAI; admits, reviews and exits TOPS athletes and approves training plans.
TOPS tiers - Core Group (OPA usually ₹50,000/month) and Development Group (₹25,000/month) plus full training cost.
ACTC - Annual Calendar for Training and Competition; the route by which MYAS funds each federation's camps and events.
NSDF - National Sports Development Fund, the vehicle for CSR and private contributions to elite sport.
Fit India - launched 29 August 2019 (National Sports Day); mass fitness movement, not athlete funding.
Fit India School grades - Flag, 3-star and 5-star certification, applied for on the Fit India portal.
Fitness test battery - BMI plus 50 m dash, 600 m run, 4×10 m shuttle, broad jump, sit-and-reach, curl-ups for ages 9-18.
Sport is a State subject - the Union funds and coordinates; states own playfields, schools and most delivery.
National Sports Policy 2025 (Khelo Bharat Niti) - the umbrella policy from July 2025, replacing the 2001 policy.
Pyramid - Fit India (participation) → Khelo India (development) → TOPS (podium); money narrows, cost per athlete rises.
Scheme outlays change every Budget - quote the year, not a remembered figure; MYAS demand-for-grants is the source.

Formulas and examples

Total scholarship cost = N × A × Y — N = athletes, A = annual scholarship (₹), Y = years of support
Annual OPA = monthly OPA × 12 — per TOPS athlete, excluding training and competition costs
Cost per medal = total scheme spend in a cycle ÷ medals won in that cycle (₹ per medal)
Cost per athlete per year = total programme outlay ÷ (number of athletes supported × years)
Participation rate (%) = (participants ÷ eligible population) × 100
BMI = mass (kg) ÷ [height (m)]² — kg/m²; used in the Fit India/Khelo India fitness assessment
CAGR of allocation = [(Final ÷ Initial)^1/n] − 1 — n = number of years between the two allocations
Utilisation (%) = (actual expenditure ÷ budget allocated) × 100 — the key scheme-monitoring ratio

Example 1 - cost of a scholarship cohort. A state's 250 athletes are admitted to Khelo India scholarship support at ₹5 lakh a year for 8 years.

Per athlete over the cycle = 5,00,000 × 8 = ₹40,00,000.
Annual outlay = 250 × 5,00,000 = ₹12,50,00,000 = ₹12.5 crore a year.
Full-cycle outlay = 12.5 × 8 = ₹100 crore.

Example 2 - TOPS out-of-pocket allowance bill. 160 Core and 120 Development athletes.

Core annual OPA = 50,000 × 12 = ₹6,00,000 → 160 × 6,00,000 = ₹9.6 crore.
Development annual OPA = 25,000 × 12 = ₹3,00,000 → 120 × 3,00,000 = ₹3.6 crore.
Total OPA = ₹13.2 crore a year, which is only the allowance — foreign training, coaches and competitions are additional.

Example 3 - cost per medal. A state spends ₹150 crore on its Khelo India-linked programme over a 4-year cycle and wins 60 medals at the Youth Games in that cycle.

Cost per medal = 150 ÷ 60 = ₹2.5 crore per medal.
If medals rise to 75 at the same spend, cost per medal = 150 ÷ 75 = ₹2 crore — a 20% efficiency gain, the standard way an exam asks for scheme evaluation.

Example 4 - Fit India School Week reporting. A school has 1,250 enrolled students; 980 take part in at least four activities during the week.

Participation rate = (980 ÷ 1,250) × 100 = 78.4%.
A student weighing 62 kg and 1.72 m tall: 1.72² = 2.9584 → BMI = 62 ÷ 2.9584 = 20.96 kg/m² (normal range for adults, 18.5-24.9; for under-18s, age-sex percentile charts apply, not the adult cut-offs).

Example 5 - allocation growth and utilisation. A scheme's allocation rises from ₹500 crore to ₹1,000 crore over 5 years, and ₹870 crore of the final year's ₹1,000 crore is actually spent.

CAGR = (1,000 ÷ 500)^1/5 − 1 = 2^0.2 − 1 = 1.1487 − 1 = 14.87% a year.
Utilisation = (870 ÷ 1,000) × 100 = 87%; the ₹130 crore shortfall is the "unspent balance" that audit and parliamentary committees question.

Feature	Khelo India	TOPS	Fit India
Started	2017-18 (revamped scheme)	2014, revamped 2018	29 August 2019
Unit supported	Athlete in development, infrastructure, competition	Individual elite athlete	School, community, individual
Target group	Roughly 9-25 years, school/university/district	Olympic and Paralympic probables	All ages, all citizens
Decision body	MYAS/SAI with state committees	Mission Olympic Cell (DG SAI chair)	MYAS Fit India Mission unit
Typical support	Scholarship, KIC/KISCE, games, playfields	Training plan, coaches, foreign exposure, OPA	Certification, protocols, campaigns
Scale of money per head	Lakhs per athlete per year	Tens of lakhs to crores per athlete per cycle	Negligible per head
Output measured as	Talent identified, medals at Khelo India Games	Olympic/Paralympic medals	Participation, certified schools

Where it is used

SAI and state sports departments: scheme implementation, KISCE operations, athlete monitoring on NSRS, utilisation certificates and audit replies.
National Sports Federations and academies: preparing ACTC proposals, nominating athletes to TOPS and MOC, running Khelo India accredited academies at notified rates.
Event management and sports marketing agencies: bidding for and delivering Khelo India Youth/University/Winter/Para/Beach Games — venues, logistics, broadcast and sponsorship inventory.
Schools, colleges and ed-tech: Fit India School certification, fitness assessment data entry, PE curriculum design under NEP 2020, KIUG participation by universities.
CSR and sports-NGO roles: contributing through the National Sports Development Fund, running grassroots programmes aligned to Khelo India verticals for tribal and rural games and for women's sport.
Sports goods, fitness and sports-science industry: demand from KIC/KISCE equipment tenders, playfield construction, physiotherapy and nutrition services, and wearable/fitness apps tied to Fit India campaigns.

Interview questions

Q: What problem was Khelo India designed to solve? A: It merged three fragmented schemes into one pipeline so that infrastructure, competition and long-term athlete scholarships are funded together instead of in isolation, and talent is identified through a national competition and data system.
Q: How is TOPS different from Khelo India? A: Khelo India is broad-based development funding for many young athletes and for facilities; TOPS funds a small, reviewed group of Olympic and Paralympic probables with customised training plans and a monthly allowance.
Q: Who takes TOPS inclusion and exit decisions? A: The Mission Olympic Cell, chaired by the Director General of SAI, with ministry officials, the TOPS CEO, eminent sportspersons and experts.
Q: Name the Khelo India Games verticals of competition. A: Youth Games, University Games, Winter Games, Para Games and, from 2025, Beach Games; the Youth Games began in 2018 as the Khelo India School Games.
Q: What is KIRTI and why was it needed? A: Khelo India Rising Talent Identification, launched in 2024, uses ICT-based mass assessment of 9-18 year olds across the country because earlier identification depended on who happened to reach a competition.
Q: Fit India is often called a movement rather than a scheme — why? A: It carries no athlete funding; it works through certification, protocols and campaigns delivered by schools, employers and local bodies, so its cost is low and its output is participation rather than medals.
Q: Which level of government actually owns sports delivery in India? A: Sport is a State subject, so states own playfields, schools and most delivery; the Union funds, coordinates and runs national programmes through MYAS and SAI.
Q: How would you evaluate whether Khelo India money is well spent? A: Track cost per athlete per year, utilisation of allocation, asset utilisation at KISCE/KIC, progression rate of scholarship athletes into national camps and TOPS, and retention or dropout, not only the medal tally at the Games.
Q: A state has good Khelo India medal counts but no Olympians. What is your diagnosis? A: The pipeline stops at the youth level — likely weak transition to senior training, no KISCE-grade facility or coaching, and athletes dropping out for education or jobs; the fix is senior-level support and progression tracking, not more junior events.
Q: What is the role of the National Sports Development Fund? A: It is a fund that accepts government, corporate and individual contributions, with tax benefits, to support elite athletes and projects alongside the budgetary schemes.
Q: Why does TOPS concentrate on a few disciplines? A: Resources are finite and the scheme is podium-targeted, so disciplines with proven Indian medal prospects and measurable progression are prioritised; this is also its main criticism, since team sports and emerging sports get less depth.
Q: Which policy document currently frames all three schemes? A: The National Sports Policy 2025, also called Khelo Bharat Niti, approved in July 2025 in place of the National Sports Policy 2001.

Common mistakes

Treating Khelo India and TOPS as the same thing, or saying TOPS is only for the Olympics — Paralympic athletes are squarely covered.
Dating Fit India to 2019 but calling it a funding scheme for athletes, or confusing its school certification with Khelo India's accredited academies.
Quoting scholarship, OPA or budget figures as fixed law; these are administratively notified and revised, so state them as "as notified" with the year.
Saying Khelo India "built stadiums everywhere" without distinguishing creation, upgradation and utilisation of existing state facilities — the scheme funds all three differently.
Forgetting that sport is a State subject, and so describing the Union as directly running district-level sport.
Listing only four or five Khelo India verticals when the examiner expects the twelve, or missing the newer game formats (Para Games 2023, Beach Games 2025).
Using adult BMI cut-offs for school children in a Fit India assessment answer instead of age- and sex-specific percentile bands.