The Indian government has said that it spent a total of Rs. 408.46 crore in the year 2022-23 on media campaigns through various modes like print, TV and outdoor advertising to highlight various federal initiatives.

Print media  (Rs. 220.34) cornered the lion’s share of the government adspend, while the electronic media received ads worth Rs.155.27 and outdoor expenses stood at Rs. 32.85 crore in 2022-23.

However, in 2018-19, the electronic media had received  a larger share of government adspend— Rs. 514.29. Print category followed with a share of  Rs. 429.55 crore, while the outdoor section’s share too was high at Rs. 235.33 crore.

This information was given by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur in Rajya Sabha (Upper House) on August 3 in reply to a query on government expenses on advertising and publicity by a fellow parliamentarian.

“Central Bureau of Communications (CBC) under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting undertakes campaigns relating to publicity/ awareness generation about programmes/schemes of Government of India,” Thakur said, while detailing the expenses during the last five years.

He further stated: “CBC releases the campaigns relating to publicity/ awareness generation about programmes/ schemes of Government of India through various media vehicles at national and regional level keeping in view factors like target audience, preferred geographical area for the campaign, availability of budget etc., as indicated by the client Ministries/Departments and as per the policy guidelines for empanelment and release of advertisements for respective media vehicles.”