BCCI announces hike for umpires, referees but provides no details

After its AGM on September 18, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the general body had “approved the enhanced payment structure for umpires and match referees and reclassification of the grades”, without providing any details.

Some figures related to a proposal by the BCCI Umpires’ Committee are circulating on social media. A former senior umpire said that the WhatsApp forwards are misleading and shouldn’t be trusted as the word of the BCCI. Interestingly, umpires’ issues, like increments, are routed through the Umpires’ Committee, while those of the other match officials – referees, scorers, video analysts, and pitch curators – are directly dealt with by the BCCI general manager (operations).

When Patriot contacted a few umpires and referees, they said: “We have only read in the media that the BCCI has enhanced umpires’ and referees’ fees. We have not been provided with any details, either by the BCCI or by anyone else. We’ll come to know about the raise only when we fill the online invoice forms of the BCCI [after officiating a match].”

After Patriot last week published stories about domestic umpires not having received a hike for eight years, a BCCI office-bearer, on September 17, texted this reporter that the enhanced fee would be “effective from this season”. But the umpires and referees who officiated in the Duleep Trophy (Aug 23-Sept 10), held before the AGM, filled their invoices as per last season’s rates, said a senior referee.

“The BCCI online system shows per-day and per-match fees. You can’t alter the figures at the time of filling invoices,” said an official. “And we don’t know if the officials who filled their Duleep Trophy invoices as per the old rates would get the arrears, if the hike is implemented for the entire season.”

The umpires who officiated in the Duleep Trophy filled invoices at the rate of Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 per day, as per their last season’s groupings, while the referees invoiced at a flat Rs 40,000 per day, irrespective of their seniority. The daily allowance also remains Rs 1,500 per day, like the previous season.

Interestingly, some people are confused as to whether the Duleep Trophy counts as part of the previous season or the ongoing season. “The BCCI considers the Irani Trophy match, played between a Rest of India XI and the Ranji Trophy winners, as the season opener, and not any other match. That’s why the officials who did the Duleep Trophy duty have filled invoices as per the old rates,” said a senior official.

Also Read: Eight years on, domestic umpires still waiting for a raise

Money is not an issue for the BCCI, one of the richest sports bodies in the world. Its 2025-26 balance sheet shows that it is worth a whopping Rs 46,983.71 crore.