Bharti joins hands with AIFF to support the talented Under-16 Indian national football team

Airtel to partner the development of football talent

o For the first time in the history of Indian football, a national youth team gets corporate funding support
o Support to help team get world-class training and international exposure to help them prepare for the Asian Football Championship
o Agreement reinforces AIFF and Bharti’s commitment to develop a powerful football culture in the country

New Delhi, July 10, 2008: Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business conglomerates with interests in telecom under the brand name Airtel, retail, financial services, manufacturing & agri-sector, today announced that it has signed an agreement with the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the official governing body in India for football, to support the development of India’s Under-16 football team.

This is the first time ever that an India youth football team is getting corporate funding support. The association highlights the continued commitment of AIFF and Bharti to promote a powerful football and sporting culture in the country. The agreement to support the Under-16 team is for a period of one year and will help the team prepare for the Asian Football Championship to be held in Uzbekistan in October 2008.

Commenting on the agreement Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, President, AIFF said “The current Under-16 team is a promising lot and has performed exceptionally well at the international level. With the right support and exposure they can compete at the highest level and make the country proud. We are very happy with the support from Bharti and this will provide a lot of encouragement to the team.”

Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises said “India’s strength today is its vast pool of youth population. Developing a strong youth program is one of the top priorities of our partnership with AIFF to create a powerful football culture in India. We hope that this team’s achievements at the international level will be a major catalyst in further promoting football amongst the youth of India.”

The team is currently in West Virginia, USA where it is playing practice matches and will also travel to Europe in the coming months. It has qualified for the Asian Football Championship by defeating established Asian football giants such as Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. If the team reaches the semi finals of Asian Football Championship, they will automatically qualify for the Under-17 World Cup 2009.

Bharti already has an MoU with AIFF to build a comprehensive National Football Development Program (NFDP) and work together for the development of Indian football.

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Photo Caption: The India U16 Team and Technical Staff before their departure for USA.

The India U-16 team

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Raegan Albarnas, Ashish Chetri, Vishal Kumar Ravindra Kumar, Akshay Vimal Kumar Mall, Harpreet Bedi, Shallum Pires, Jayanta Paul, Ashfaq Ali, Deepak Devrani, Ravi Kumar, Sumit Rawat, Taranjit Kumar, Tanmoy Ghosh, Bikramjit Singh, Biru Yadav, Milan Singh O, R Lalrindika, Subhojit Majumdar, Tirthankar Sarkar, Abhishek Das, Malsawmfela, Manandeep, Prem Kumar.

Bharti Enterprises

Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, financial services and retail. Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company, is one of India’s leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 69.15 million customers as of end of May 2008, spanning Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. Bharti Airtel has been ranked amongst the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007. Bharti Teletech is the country’s largest manufacturer and exporter of telephone terminals. Bharti has a joint venture – Bharti Del Monte India (P) Ltd – with Del Monte Foods India Pvt. Ltd., to offer fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in the domestic as well as international markets including Europe, USA and Middle East. Bharti has a joint venture – Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd. – with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. Bharti also has a joint venture for an asset management company – Bharti AXA Investment Managers Private Ltd. – with AXA IM and AXA APH. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business under a company called Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. It also has a joint venture – Bharti Wal-Mart Private Ltd. – with Wal-Mart for wholesale cash-and-carry and back-end supply chain management operations in India.

About AIFF

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the official governing body in India (affiliated to FIFA) for promoting the game of football. It has recently launched the National Team Development Programme (NTDP) to take India among the top footballing nations in Asia.

For further information, please contact:

Lt. Col. (Retd.) Mehta: 91-11-28041430/31/32/33, media {at} the-aiff(.)com

Raza Khan: +91 9871391881; raza.khan {at} bharti(.)in
Ashutosh Sharma: +91 98187 63772; ashutosh.s {at} bharti(.)in

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