About Sanjiv Goenka
Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, has been active in public commentary on politics, business, and sports. Following the BJP's victory in the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, Goenka expressed confidence in the new state government, stating that the BJP has a "track record of success in every state that they have governed" and that he expects to see the same in Bengal. He called for policy consistency and the scrapping of what he described as "archaic laws" such as the urban land ceiling act, which he said does not exist in any other part of the country. Goenka also said that investing in Bengal had previously been an "emotional call" but that with a BJP government, "emotion turns into emotion plus confidence."
On national affairs, Goenka praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance, calling him "by lengths the best prime minister that India has had" and stating that "Modi hai to mumkin hai" is a sentiment shared by Indian industry. He expressed confidence in India's long-term economic trajectory, predicting the country could become "one or two in the world" by 2047. Addressing the impact of the Iran-US war, Goenka acknowledged short-term challenges for fuel-dependent businesses but said the group is proceeding with approximately ₹72,000 crore in projects across multiple states, though he noted the war may delay their target by a year. In sports, Goenka discussed his ownership of the Lucknow Super Giants IPL team and Mohun Bagan football club, describing himself as a "convenient punching bag" on social media and stating that he does not give cricketing lessons to experts.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Sanjiv Goenka's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
S
Sanjiv Goenka0:00
Okay, very simple. Personally, you don't invest a few crores for passion. You don't invest hundreds of crores for passion. Okay, that's the first point I'd like to make. Secondly, what I have to pay to the BCCI eventually is the difference between what I get from the BCCI by way of broadcast rights, et cetera, and what I have to pay to them by way of license fees. So the net difference, as I calculated based on our calculations, is close to half of 7,000 crores over a period of 10 years. Though I mean, my outgo in terms of equity to the new venture will be about half of this amount, and at that level over 10 years, I think it's a very good buy.
I
Interviewer0:56
Okay, I was also looking at the 2008 numbers of the first IPL auction, including what the likes of Reliance run by Mukesh Ambani paid for it. It has really skyrocketed in valuation since then. If you come down to the Rajasthan Royals that just paid 67 million dollars, the RIL franchise of the Mumbai Indians had gone at 111.9 million dollars. The values have really proved to be either a great investment or they've really become much costlier now.
S
Sanjiv Goenka1:10
You know, I think frankly, I have a very simple formula. Whatever Mukesh and Bani do, they do in style, and value appreciates. This is again one of those classical instances where they know how to spot an investment well, they know how to manage well, and they know how to create value.
I
Interviewer1:52
Okay, and what are your hopes for the team apart from the fact that you lost by one run? You'd like to turn that into a victory at the finals, but what are the lessons that you've learned? What did you see at the IPL that just got concluded that you hope could serve as a lesson for the team that you build, and who are you most keen on having padding up for your team?
S
Sanjiv Goenka2:13
You know, sports teaches you that winning and losing is part of the game. You win some, you lose some. So don't get over excited with your victories and don't get over disappointed with your losses. It's par for the course. As far as wanting players, everyone wants the best of the best. That's not going to be possible necessarily because the existing franchises will have the right to retain some players that they have. So your key best players will be retained by the existing franchises, so we have to make do with what we have.
I
Interviewer2:54
Okay, and the significance of Lucknow. You know, you're from Kolkata, ideally that's the team that you would have wanted, but that's not in the auction list. You've picked Lucknow, taking cricket to the IPL to the hinterland, the heartland of India. How important was that?
S
Sanjiv Goenka3:13
You know, I'm personally quite excited about this because Lucknow is, I mean UP is the biggest state of the country, the most popular state. And we do believe there is a huge population in the state who is waiting to have a team. And we do have operations there. We do power distribution in Greater Noida, we run retail stores in the state of UP. So it's something that we are fairly excited about, and we do believe it will be a furtherance of our business in UP, which we've been very keen on.
I
Interviewer3:54
All right. I'll leave it there for the time being. Wish you all the best for your new team. It's interesting that you say it's not just passion and josh that you think that this could be a good investment because if it's just passion, then you've just paid a lot of money to indulge in that passion. But you're hoping also that this will prove to be a worthwhile investment. We'll track what happens. Thank you.
