Pay Gap Reality: BCCI's Women's Contracts Range Rs 10-50 Lakh vs Men's Rs 1-7 Crore

Following India's historic Women's World Cup triumph, scrutiny has intensified around the BCCI's annual player retainership structure, which reveals a stark disparity between men's and women's cricket contracts despite equal match fees introduced in 2022. While top women's cricketers like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma earn Rs 50 lakh annually under Grade A contracts, their male counterparts in the A+ category command Rs 7 crore—a 14-fold difference that highlights the structural inequalities persisting in Indian cricket despite recent progressive reforms.

Women's Annual Retainership Structure (2024-25)

As announced by BCCI on March 24, 2025, women's central contracts are divided into three categories:

Grade Annual Salary Players

Grade A Rs 50 lakh Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma

Grade B Rs 30 lakh Renuka Singh Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma Grade C Rs 10 lakh Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Sneh Rana, and 5 others (9 total) Total Contracted Players: 16

Men's Annual Retainership Structure (2024-25)

Announced on April 21, 2025, men's contracts feature four tiers with significantly higher compensation:

Grade Annual Salary Example Players

A+ Rs 7 crore Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah

A Rs 5 crore KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami

B Rs 3 crore Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel

C Rs 1 crore Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, others

Total Contracted Players: Approximately 30

The Match Fee Parity Achievement

In October 2022, then-BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced equal match fees for men and women—a landmark decision that represented genuine progress toward gender parity:

Match Fees (Equal for Men & Women):

Test Match: Rs 15 lakh per match

ODI: Rs 6 lakh per match

T20I: Rs 3 lakh per match

This equalization means that when women and men play the same format, they receive identical compensation—a significant departure from historical norms where women earned substantially less per game.

The Critical Caveat: Match Volume Disparity While match fees are equal, the total earning potential remains vastly different due to match volume:

Approximate Annual Match Count:

Men's Team: 40-50 international matches across formats

Women's Team: 25-30 international matches

This disparity means men's cricketers accumulate far more match fee income annually, even with identical per-match rates.

Example Calculation:

Male cricketer (40 matches): Rs 15 lakh (Test) × 10 + Rs 6 lakh (ODI) × 20 + Rs 3 lakh (T20I) × 10 = Rs 3 crore+ in match fees alone

Female cricketer (25 matches): Rs 15 lakh (Test) × 4 + Rs 6 lakh (ODI) × 12 + Rs 3 lakh (T20I) × 9 = Rs 1.59 crore in match fees

Total Annual Earnings Comparison

Top-Tier Male Cricketer (A+ Grade):

Retainer: Rs 7 crore

Match fees: Rs 2-3 crore

Total: Rs 9-10 crore (before endorsements)

Top-Tier Female Cricketer (Grade A):

Retainer: Rs 50 lakh

Match fees: Rs 1-1.5 crore

Total: Rs 1.5-2 crore (before endorsements)

Ratio: Top male cricketers earn approximately 5-6 times more than top female cricketers from BCCI compensation alone.

The Endorsement Factor

Post-World Cup, endorsement earnings have surged:

Smriti Mandhana: Rs 1.5-2 crore per brand × 16 brands = Rs 24-32 crore annually

Jemimah Rodrigues: Rs 75 lakh-1.5 crore per brand × estimated 5-10 brands = Rs 3.75-15 crore

For top women cricketers, endorsements now dwarf BCCI retainership fees—a dynamic that mirrors male cricket, where stars like Virat Kohli earn multiples of their BCCI contracts through brand partnerships.

Historical Context: The Transformation Pre-2006 (WCAI Era):

No annual contracts

Rs 1,000 per World Cup match (2005)

Virtually no institutional support

2022 Pay Parity Announcement:

Equal match fees introduced

Central contracts established

WPL launched (2023)

2025 Post-World Cup:

Grade A: Rs 50 lakh

Match fees: Rs 3-15 lakh per game

Endorsements: Rs 75 lakh-2 crore per brand

This trajectory—from Rs 8,000 per tournament to Rs 1.5-2 crore annual BCCI earnings plus multi-crore endorsements—represents transformative progress over two decades.

The Debate: Is This Parity? Critics argue that 14x disparity in retainership fees contradicts claims of gender equality, particularly when female cricketers now generate significant commercial value through World Cup victories and WPL performances.

Defenders note that:

Match volume reflects global cricket schedules beyond BCCI control

Revenue generation remains higher for men's cricket

Progress has been rapid compared to other sports

Match fee parity represents genuine structural equality

The truth likely lies between: significant progress has occurred, but structural gaps remain that will require continued advocacy and commercial growth to eliminate.