MUMBAI: Business conglomerate Sahara India, which has interests in finance, real estate and media, has renewed its sponsorship deal with Hockey India, the governing body of hockey in India, for five years running through to 2017.

While the exact sponsorship fee was not revealed, Sahara has said that the sponsorship amount is 170 per cent higher than what it was forking out currently.

HI was getting Rs 30 million annually in sponsorship fee since 2009, which works out to roughly Rs 80 million for the current deal. Sahara‘s total payout for the five-year cycle will work out to Rs 400 million.

The development comes in the wake of Sahara pulling out of the Indian cricket team‘s sponsorship as well as IPL franchise Pune Warriors India. While, the company has sent positive signals as far as participating in the IPL is concerned, it has ruled out the possibility of sponsoring the Indian cricket team for which it was paying Rs 33 million per match.

Speaking on renewing hockey sponsorship, Sahara India Pariwar chairman Subroto Roy Sahara said, “It is our national game and we are proud to be associated with this game and are elated to continue our patronage and support for the game. We will achieve greater laurels and success in the sport of hockey in the coming years and Sahara India Pariwar is committed to the development of sport at all levels.”

Sahara has been the official sponsor of the Indian Hockey Team (Senior and Junior Hockey Teams) since 2003. The company had also joined hands with hockey‘s world governing body Federation Internationale De Hockey (FIH) in 2004 to become the fourth global Partner of the federation for a period of three years.

In addition to this hockey, Sahara has adopted Indian Boxing, Wrestling, Archery, Shooting, Track & Field and Tennis covering support of a total of 95 sportsmen in these six games who are potential medal winners, until after London Olympics 2012.