Modi govt spent over Rs 3,000 crore on advertisements since 2018; print media tops list

The Narendra Modi government has spent Rs 3,064.42 crore on advertisement and publicity for its schemes and programmes since 2018-19 with print media topping the list, though the overall advertisement budget has shown a decline.

The data provided by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Rajya Sabha last week showed that the government spent Rs 1,338.56 crore on print media, Rs 1,273.06 crore on electronic media, and Rs 452.80 crore on outdoor publicity between 2018-19 and 2023-24 till July 13 this year.

According to the data, the overall expenditure has declined from Rs 1,179.16 crore om 2018-19 to Rs 408.46 crore in 2022-23.

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In 2019-20, the advertisement expenditure had slumped to Rs 708.18 crore. It further declined to Rs 409.47 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 315.98 crore in 2021-22 but picked up again in 2022-23.

Between April and July 13 this year, the government has spent Rs 43.16 crore on advertisements.

An analysis of the data showed that electronic media had a higher share of the advertisement pie in 2018-19 and 2019-20 over print media, but its share declined in the next three fiscals.

In 2018-19, electronic media got advertisements worth Rs 514.29 crore against print media's Rs 429.55 crore. The next fiscal too saw a similar trend though the advertisement budget was cut substantially owing to Covid-19 pandemic -- electronic media got Rs 316.99 crore against Rs 295.05 crore for print.

However, the trend reversed in 2020-21 when print media got Rs 197.49 crore against electronic media's Rs 167.90 crore. Similarly in 2021-22, it was Rs 179.04 crore against Rs 101.24 crore and Rs 220.34 crore and Rs 155.27 crore respectively, for print and electronic media.

The first four months of this fiscal, however, showed that electronic media spend was higher -- Rs 17.37 crore against Rs 17.09 crore for print.

Meanwhile, expenditure on outdoor publicity has come down drastically from Rs 235.33 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 32.85 crore in 2022-23. This fiscal so far, the government has spent Rs 8.70 crore on outdoor publicity.

In his written reply to the query of Trinamool Congress' Abir Ranjan Biswas, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that an independent third party agency conducted an all India Survey/Impact Assessment Study of Multi-Media Campaigns executed by Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) covering 722 districts.

"Findings of the study have been found to be very useful in planning effective communication strategies so as to ensure targeted information dissemination and last mile connectivity," he said.

In a similar but separate question by Congress' Syed Nasir Hussain, the Minister said the CBC releases campaigns relating to publicity/awareness about government schemes/programmes, keeping in mind factors like target audience, availability of budget etc. as indicated by the client ministries and departments.