The purse is how much each team may spend; the base price is the least any player can go for. Get the two wrong and the night either ends with three teams unable to fill a squad, or with every player selling at the base price because nobody has room to bid.
Start from the squad, not the purse
Every team must be able to buy its minimum squad at the base price, whatever happens earlier in the night. So the floor is simple: purse ≥ minimum squad × base price. A team of 11 at ₹2,000 each needs at least ₹22,000 just to finish.
Above that floor is the money that makes an auction: what owners can spend on the players they really want. A purse of five times the floor gives owners room to fight for a few stars and still fill the squad.
The reserve rule, worked through
An owner may never bid so much that they could not buy the rest of their minimum squad at the base price. With a ₹1,00,000 purse, a minimum squad of 11 and a ₹2,000 base price, the first bid can be at most ₹1,00,000 − 10 × ₹2,000 = ₹80,000. As the squad fills, that ceiling moves.
Points instead of rupees
If no real money changes hands, run the auction in points. A 1,000-point purse with bids in steps of 5, 10 and 25 feels exactly like a rupee auction, and nobody has to collect anything afterwards.
Three checks before you lock it
- Teams × minimum squad ≤ approved players, or the last teams cannot finish.
- Purse ≥ minimum squad × base price, for every team.
- Base prices low enough that the last players in the pool still sell.