Asian Games 2026: How Much Do India's Medal Winners Actually Get?
Asian Games medal winners cash prize: From Haryana’s ₹3 crore gold reward to Kerala’s fresh ₹50 lakh package — here’s exactly how much cash Indian athletes earn per medal at the 2026 Asian Games.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, September 19
The 20th Asian Games is midway— running September 19 to October 4 in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan — with India sending a 508-strong contingent across 37 sports, chasing a repeat of the record 107-medal haul from Hangzhou 2023. But for the athletes themselves, a medal here triggers a cascade of cash rewards from the Centre, their home state, sometimes their sport’s own federation — and the amounts vary enormously depending on which state an athlete calls home.
Asian Games medal winners cash prize: What the Centre pays
Asian Games Medal Winners Cash Prize: Under the Sports Ministry’s Special Awards to Medal Winners scheme, Asian Games medallists receive a direct cash award — historically ₹20 lakh for gold, ₹10 lakh for silver and ₹6 lakh for bronze, though the gold figure has been cited closer to ₹30 lakh in more recent disbursements. This sits alongside, not instead of, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) support that funds training, foreign exposure and equipment before the Games.
The top tier: Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh
Asian Games Medal Winners Cash Prize: Himachal Pradesh is now the single biggest payer in the country. Under a 2024 hike by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the state raised its Asian Games awards from ₹50 lakh/₹30 lakh/₹20 lakh to ₹4 crore for gold, ₹2.5 crore for silver, and ₹1.5 crore for bronze — even ahead of Haryana.
Haryana remains the sport’s most consistent big spender, at ₹3 crore/₹1.5 crore/₹75 lakh, a rate confirmed as still current by a July 2026 disbursement of ₹20.59 crore to 198 medal-winning athletes. Haryana medallists also typically receive a state government job (HCS/Class-I for gold).
Chandigarh’s UT Sports Department matches Haryana exactly — ₹3 crore/₹1.5 crore/₹75 lakh under its New Sports Policy (August 2023) — though the department has a documented history of slow disbursement, including a decade-long backlog of ₹4.4 crore that was only cleared in a single 2023 catch-up drive.
Punjab: closing the gap, but still behind its neighbours
Asian Games Medal Winners Cash PrizePunjab’s incentives were historically a fraction of Haryana’s — just ₹26 lakh for gold as recently as the 2018 Jakarta Games, a gap that became a sore point when Punjab medallists publicly compared notes with Haryana athletes in Bathinda after the 2023 Games. Under the current AAP government, Punjab’s rates have been raised to ₹1 crore/₹75 lakh/₹50 lakh — nearly quadrupling the old gold rate — alongside a first-of-its-kind ₹4.64 crore in pre-Games preparation grants to 48 state athletes. It’s a real improvement, though still a third of what Haryana and Chandigarh pay.
The rest of the field
Maharashtra: ₹1 crore/₹75 lakh/₹50 lakh for individual events (₹75 lakh/₹50 lakh/₹25 lakh per player in team events) — a tenfold hike from its old ₹10 lakh/₹7.5 lakh/₹5 lakh scale, announced after the state compared notes with other states following Hangzhou 2023.
Kerala: ₹50 lakh/₹30 lakh/₹20 lakh — a fresh, Games-specific announcement made this September, plus a ₹1 lakh advance to every participating athlete and cash incentives for coaches.
Tamil Nadu: ₹50 lakh/₹30 lakh/₹20 lakh, the rate used to distribute ₹9.40 crore to the state’s 28 Hangzhou medallists in 2023.
Odisha: A standing rate of ₹40 lakh/₹25 lakh/₹12.5 lakh, but with a track record of case-by-case top-ups — Odisha-linked Olympic hockey players received ₹1.5 crore individually after Hangzhou, well above the official scale.
Karnataka: ₹25 lakh/₹15 lakh/₹8 lakh, per a 2018 budget announcement — this figure is dated and may since have been revised; worth an independent check before publishing.
West Bengal: Historically the lowest among major states — as little as ₹10 lakh even for a historic gold (heptathlete Swapna Barman’s landmark 2018 win). No evidence of a revision found for these Games.
The bottom line
An athlete winning gold at these Games could take home anywhere between roughly ₹50 lakh (Kerala, Tamil Nadu) and ₹4 crore (Himachal Pradesh) once state and central awards are combined — purely depending on which state or UT they represent, before any sponsor or federation bonuses on top. It’s a disparity that has sparked public friction before, and will likely resurface again as Aichi-Nagoya’s medals roll in.
- From NORTH DESK:
- Kamaljeet-Suruchi Singh Win India’s 2nd Gold At Asian Games 2026
- Can India And Pakistan Meet At The Asian Games? Full Route Explained
Follow North Desk on WhatsApp for the latest from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb7ccdxJENy2H87DBG3E
2 Comments