The big ticket buyouts of IPL teams Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals has led to a rise in investor interest in other teams with price hike and buying action of IPL franchises on unlisted markets. As the only actively traded IPL stock in the unlisted space after its demerger from India Cements, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is seeing initial gains from this sentiment.
The Chennai franchise in IPL has seen its share price gone up from around ₹225–₹240 at the start of March to ₹300–335 now, indicating a move of 25–40% in under a month, according to data from Wealth Wisdom India, a platform that facilitates the trade of unlisted shares. In fact, the share prices have doubled from the 52 week low of ₹174.
Similarly, data from InCred Money, another such platform also showed a growth of 24 per cent in the month.
Season Fever
Other platforms such as UnlistedZone note a sharp spike in the shares on March 23, a day after the franchise hosted a large scale fan event in the run up to the IPL this year.
The increase comes at a time when RCB and RR have attracted record-breaking bids, underscoring IPL franchises’ soaring global investor appeal. Rajasthan Royals is set to be sold to a consortium led by US-based tech entrepreneur Kal Somani for a reported $1.63 billion, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru has been acquired by a consortium comprising the Aditya Birla Group, the Times Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone for $1.78 billion.
Discount Price
Krishna Patwari, Founder & Managing Director of Wealth Wisdom India believes that the shares of CSK are available at a discount when compared to other franchises. “With a market cap of about ₹11,000 – ₹11,500 crore, CSK is effectively trading at a 30% discount to the RCB benchmark,” he said.
Patwari notes that the discount could be attributed to the unlisted markets factoring in issues like the absence of a clean controlling stake, dispersed ownership structure and a lack of immediate strategic sale visibility. Moreover, the sharp increase in the share’s price over a relatively short period indicate that the shares are being bought not only by retail investors but also institutional players and HNIs, he added.
Vijay Kuppa, CEO, InCred Money, says that when deals as large in scale as RR/RCB get disclosed, listed investors instinctively benchmark comparable assets, and CSK, given its track record and brand equity, was an obvious one. “At the current price of ₹335, the market cap of CSK is around ₹12,710 crore; it remains to be seen how much further the price can move from here,” he added.
IPL Revenues
CSK reported revenues of ₹643 crores in FY25 and reported a profit after tax of ₹180 crores, according to its annual report. Comparatively, RCB posted revenues of about ₹504 crore.
Similarly, shares of companies associated with other IPL teams have also seen a rise.
Sun TV which controls Sunrises Hyderabad went up as high as 5.4 per cent on Wednesday, while RPSG Ventures Limited who own Lucknow Super Giants , went up by 20 per cent to hit its upper circuit.
Published on March 26, 2026
