American based food and beverage company PepsiCo has become the new title sponsor of the Indian Premiere League for the next five years. The company has agreed to pay Rs. 396.8 crores for the deal with BCCI which controls the T20 cricket league.

Another sponsor who was also looking out to bag a good deal was Airtel, which incidentally was the only other party interested in the bid amount of around Rs. 315 crore. The annual IPL event held in the month of April and May coincides with the peak Indian summer season, when the company spends the maximum amount in their annual marketing budget.

Rajeev Shukla, the IPL governing Council Chairman said, “PepsiCo are one of the largest sponsors in world sport and we look forward to working with them over the next seasons”. The earlier sponsor for the event was DLF which had bought the sponsorship five years ago for Rs. 200 crores.

The contract between DLF and the BCCI came to an end earlier this year and the company did not want to renew the deal. Shukla also said that he takes the opportunity to thank DLF for their confidence in the IPL, which saw them become the first title sponsor in the year 2008. Last month, the BCCI had issued a tender notice for new sponsors, which led to the PepsiCo signing.