Bhaichung Bhutia Net Worth

Bhaichung Bhutia is the best-known Indian footballer of his generation and the player who did most to raise the profile of the game in a cricket-mad country. Born in Tinkitam in Sikkim, he joined East Bengal as a teenager, made his India debut in 1995 and went on to captain the national team, winning the Nehru Cup and the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, which took India to the Asian Cup for the first time since 1984. Commentators called him the Sikkimese Sniper.

In 1999 he became the first Indian to play professional club football in Europe when he signed for Bury in England, and he later played in Malaysia and for Mohun Bagan. After retiring he started football schools, co-founded United Sikkim and moved into politics, standing for parliament in Darjeeling in 2014 and in Siliguri in 2016, then founding his own party in Sikkim. His affidavit for the 2024 Sikkim election declared assets of ₹127.23 crore and liabilities of ₹3.51 crore.

What he declared

Almost all of the ₹127 crore in Bhutia's 2024 affidavit is land and buildings, about ₹124.2 crore, with about ₹3.05 crore in movable assets such as bank deposits and investments. That is a big jump from the ₹15 to ₹18 crore he declared in his earlier elections, and the difference sits almost entirely in the value given to his property.

EastMojo, reporting the analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Sikkim Election Watch, named him the second-richest of the 146 candidates in the 2024 Sikkim assembly election. He lost the Barfung seat to Rikshal Dorjee Bhutia of the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha by about 4,000 votes, the Times of India reported.

How he made his money

Bhutia earned his money over almost two decades as India's star footballer, at a time when the country's top clubs were mostly in Kolkata and Goa. Endorsement deals, coaching ventures such as his football schools and his stake in United Sikkim followed. His affidavit lists income from rent, business, professional fees, salary, agriculture and interest.

His share of family land in Sikkim, some of it inherited according to the affidavit, accounts for most of the declared total.

About this figure

Every candidate for an Indian election has to file a sworn affidavit (Form 26) listing everything he and his household own and owe. In his 2024 Sikkim election affidavit, Bhaichung Bhutia declared total assets of ₹1,27,23,14,064 and liabilities of ₹3,51,10,013. We subtract one from the other to get the declared net worth of about ₹123.7 crore, about $13 million at the October 26, 2026 exchange rate. The affidavit figures are transcribed by the Association for Democratic Reforms on MyNeta and were reported by national media at the time. MyNeta's current transcription shows liabilities of ₹3,83,56,370, which would make the net figure about ₹123.4 crore; we use the ₹3.51 crore published by The Indian Express and in ADR's own report.

Keep in mind what this number is. Assets in an affidavit are listed at the values the candidate states, and property is often entered well below what it would sell for today. It is an official declaration, not a journalist's estimate of his wealth, and it only covers what was owned on the day it was filed.