"There was a very real chance that India would have gone on an IPL voyage and left world cricket behind. That was said more than once," Edwards told ESPNcricinfo.
"If that had have happened, you were looking down the barrel of a Kerry Packer moment. It would have been easy to say 'they aren't going to do it, they want to play in World Cups', but that was a reality," he said.
Edwards said the BCCI has also been quite cooperative on the issue of better pays for international players competing in the IPL.
"IPL is important to them, and to the world of cricket players who make a lot of money out of it, and we didn't want to see it grow. We've also negotiated with India to pay the countries more for their players. We've got good understandings on that, they've been very straightforward and I believe them," he said.