Bimal Julka, former Chief Information Commissioner of India, has been appointed as the chairman of Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS).
Bimal Julka was appointed as the chairman of the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), the self-regulatory body for fantasy sports in the country.
Julka is the former Chief Information Commissioner of India and an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1979 batch of Madhya Pradesh.
Prior to that, he has held several senior positions in the government of India, including the Ministry of Defence, Civil Aviation, Information & Broadcasting, External Affairs, Finance, Commerce and Public Relations.
As the new chairman, Bimal Julka will work with all the stakeholders to further strengthen the operating standards of the Indian fantasy sports industry.
Preceding chairman of FIFS John Loffhagen, who served at the position for over three years, will take up the role of a strategic advisor and support the body on collaborating with relevant international bodies of the industry.
Anwar Shirpurwala, CEO of FIFS, believes that the new chairman will help in the proper progress of the industry.
“Having such a senior dignitary, like Bimal Julka, representing fantasy sports will strengthen the industry's credibility, and we are sure to witness new strides towards reformations and standardisation of the rapidly growing fantasy sports industry,” said Shirpurwala.
"We are very fortunate to have him join FIFS as the Chairman. His impeccable reputation and principles of good governance precede him.”
FIFS advisory board also includes an ombudsman in retired Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, and four strategic advisors - former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty, former Secretary of Sports Authority of India (SAI) Amrit Mathur, retired Director General of Police AN Roy and former Additional Commissioner of Sales Tax Dilip Dixit.
FIFS, founded in 2017, is the only self-regulating body for fantasy sports in India and currently has 35 members, including some of the biggest platforms such as Dream11, My11Circle, MyTeam11, and FanFight.
Dream11, the largest fantasy sports platform of India, is the founding member of FIFS.
