New Delhi, Feb. 2 -- India's sports goods manufacturing sector received a boost in the allocation for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs in the union budget presented on Sunday with Rs.500 crore set aside for the first time for the promotion of the industry. "India has the potential to emerge as a global hub for high quality, affordable sports goods. I propose a dedicated initiative for sports goods that will promote manufacturing, research and innovation in equipment design as well as material sciences," union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the budget in parliament. The initiative is expected to promote domestic manufacturing, encourage innovation and strengthen India's presence in the global sports supply chains. The move was welcomed by sports goods manufacturers. "This is the first time that the government has come out with some kind of suggestions or subsidies or incentives for the sports manufacturing industry for testing, subsidies for the fees which we pay for approvals, etc. It's a very positive development for the industry," Rakesh Kohli, chairman of STAG International, a global manufacturer of table tennis equipment and sports infrastructure, told HT. "They are also talking about setting up clusters for sporting goods manufacturing. So, all this is going to be quite helpful. "A major change for the industry is that it comes under the sports ministry from this year. Earlier, sporting goods manufacturing was not represented by any ministry."...