The union government has spent a total of Rs 3,723.38 crore on advertisements in the last five years, Union Information and Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur told the Parliament on Thursday.
According to a written reply tabled by Thakur in the Rajya Sabha, the Centre through the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC), spent over Rs 1,200 crore on advertisements in 2017-18, its highest in five years.
The Centre spent around Rs 1,100 crore in the year 2018-19, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Rs 627.67 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 349.09 crore in 2020-21.
In 2021-22, the Centre’s spending on publicity stood at Rs 264.78 crore. In the current fiscal, the Centre has spent Rs 154.07 crore on advertisements till December 9, Thakur said.
“As per the above data, expenditure on advertisement and publicity has not increased in the last few years,” Thakur said, in response to the question by Congress member Syed Nasir Hussain, who asked whether the Centre was aware that spending on advertisements and publicity had increased manifold over the past few years.
In response to another question by CPM MP from Kerala, AA Rahim, on December 8, the union I&B minister said that the CBC releases advertisements through various media platforms “keeping in view the campaign requirement, the budget of the campaign, the target audience and the area and preferences indicated by client ministries/ departments”.
Rahim had sought details of expenditure incurred by the government on print, television, electronic and other forms of advertising in the last five years. He had also sought to know if the government was planning steps to limit its spending on advertising and publicity.