Merchandising company Premier Brand pulls out of Commonwealth Games

Engulfed in a spate of corruption scandals, the Commonweath Games organising committee was today dealt another blow with merchandising company Premier Brands pulling out of the mega event.

The official merchandising and licensing partner of the Delhi Games, Premier Brands had been contemplating to withdraw as the delay in starting the process is amounting to huge losses every day.

"We have decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games as the project has got delayed too much," chairman of Premier Brands Suresh Kumar told PTI.

"The contract to produce the merchandise was signed on May 19 with a minimum profit guarantee of 15-20%, which could have been around Rs7 crore.

"But it got delayed by around three months and if I consider the 15-20% profit margin, it will come down to around Rs3 crore where as I am investing Rs13 crore. I can't effort to incur such a huge loss," he added.

The launch of the project was originally scheduled for June 24 when the Queen's Baton Relay entered India through the Wagah Border.

The project included various initiatives like having a website for merchandising products, opening outlets across the Games venues and stores across shopping malls, metro stations and the airport.

Merchandising is an integral part of big-ticket sports events around the world, and is usually one of the primary techniques to earn back the money that has been invested in infrastructure and the conduct of the event.

Merchandising for the 2008 Beijing Olympics had started as early as three years before the Games. Even 2012 London Olympics' flagship store and online sales have already started although it is still two years to go.

Meanwhile, cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar today held a meeting with all the ministries concerned with the Games to take stock of the preparations.

Chandrasekhar had been visiting the Games venues for the last few days to oversee the preparations for the October 3-14 event.