From kabaddi mats to gaming screens — Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra has announced an investment in Let's Game Now, the company behind the emerging Indian Super Gaming League (ISGL), on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, signalling his conviction that India's next sporting dynasty could be built with a controller, not a jersey.

Santanu Basu's journey from FIFA podium to league founder

At the centre of the announcement is Santanu Basu, a figure Mahindra describes as 'one of India's pioneering professional esports players.' Basu competed internationally in the FIFA football video game and finished third at an international gaming tournament — a result that established him as a credible voice in a space where most Indian players never made it past domestic circuits. Now his ambition has scaled up dramatically: building an entire ecosystem of Indian gaming champions rather than being one himself.

Let's Game Now is the vehicle for that ambition, and ISGL is its flagship product. Mahindra's backing brings not just capital but a playbook — one forged across two earlier league-building experiments.

The league-builder's thesis: ecosystems over individual stars

Mahindra has been explicit about the lesson drawn from his earlier ventures. 'Building Pro Kabaddi and the Global Chess League taught me that talent alone isn't enough,' he wrote on X. 'Champions need an ecosystem of coaching, leagues and serious competition.' The Pro Kabaddi League, launched in 2014, is the clearest proof of concept: a traditional sport that had no professional structure was transformed into a primetime broadcast property with franchises, coaches, and a global following. The Global Chess League followed the same logic for chess.

ISGL is positioned as the next iteration — applying the same franchise-and-ecosystem architecture to competitive gaming. Mahindra pointedly pushes back on parental anxiety around screens: 'Responsible, competitive esports is a different ball game. It demands strategy, reflexes, teamwork and discipline.' He also notes the career sprawl that a mature league generates — coaches, analysts, creators, designers, and producers all orbit a well-run competition.

Why India's gaming moment is now

India already carries one of the world's largest youth gaming communities, turbocharged by cheap mobile data and a generation that grew up on smartphones. That latent audience is exactly what every league needs before it can sell a broadcast deal or a franchise slot. The IPL demonstrated what happens when a domestic talent surplus meets a professional structure — and Mahindra's track record suggests he is betting the same formula translates to esports.

The rollout details — team count, city franchises, broadcast partnerships, viewership targets — for ISGL are yet to be disclosed publicly. But the chairman's opening move, as he framed it, is on the record. The question now is whether the Indian gaming community will show up the way kabaddi fans did.

India built a kabaddi economy from scratch in a decade. Esports has a far bigger headstart — the audience already exists. Now it just needs a league worthy of it.