Bharat: What Will It Cost to Rename India?

Speculation surrounding the potential renaming of India to Bharat has ignited a spirited debate among politicians, while experts have been crunching numbers to estimate the financial implications of such a monumental rebranding effort.

According to an intellectual property lawyer who developed a method to calculate the approximate cost of renaming a country, the price tag for this transformation could reach a staggering Rs 14,304 crore, as reported by Outlook Business.

Darren Oliver, a legal expert from South Africa, first devised this formula in 2018 when Swaziland decided to change its name to Eswatini in an effort to break away from its colonial past. Oliver’s calculations estimated the cost of renaming the African nation at $60 million.

To assess the potential cost for India’s transformation, he applied the same methodology, using the country’s revenue as a key factor. Oliver pointed out that, on average, large enterprises allocate about 6 percent of their total revenue to marketing activities, with rebranding initiatives accounting for up to 10 percent of the overall marketing budget.

For the fiscal year 2022-23, India’s total revenue receipts amounted to a substantial Rs 23.84 lakh crore, encompassing both tax and non-tax revenue. By applying Oliver’s formula, the estimated cost of rebranding ‘India’ to ‘Bharat’ would be approximately (0.006 * 23.84 lakh crore), which translates to Rs 14,304 crore.

This significant sum is nearly equivalent to the monthly expenditure of the Central Government on its food security program, which provides sustenance to a staggering 80 crore Indians, as detailed in the Outlook Business report.

While the intentions of the Central Government regarding the proposed name change remain uncertain, recent developments suggest that the process may already be underway in some contexts. Foreign heads of state attending the G20 Summit events have referred to the President of India as the “President of Bharat” in official invitations.

Similarly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was identified as the leader representing “Bharat” during the G20 Summit that commenced on September 9, where he delivered his opening remarks at the two-day meeting.

As discussions on this potentially historic renaming continue, the financial implications and broader consequences of such a change will undoubtedly remain a subject of intense debate among India’s citizens and policymakers alike.