Rajasthan minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Pratap Khachariyawas said Tuesday that the Ashok Gehlot government’s plan to pay up to Rs 5 lakh to social media influencers for running government advertisements on their social media handles “will benefit the youth”.

“It is a very good decision. All decisions of the government are ones that promote the youth and their leadership…This is going to be a major step and will benefit the youth…,” Khachariyawas said speaking to news agency ANI.

“Why should only big companies come ahead in the advertising field and get big projects, and tenders? By decentralising the business, lakhs of youth will get employed opportunities and money,” he added.

On June 26, the Ashok Gehlot government issued a notification allowing advertisements to social media influencers ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh per month on their channels.

The influencers have been categorised into four groups. While Group A will comprise users with a following of at least 10 lakh followers, Group B influencers must have 5-10 lakh subscribers. Influencers with 1-5 lakh followers will qualify for Group C while those with over 10,000 followers will be categorised under Group D.

Group A influencers will be entitled to a maximum monthly payment of Rs 5 lakh for running government advertisements, while Group B, C and D influencers will get advertisements worth a maximum of Rs 2 lakh, Rs 50,000 and Rs 10,000 per month, respectively.

According to the notification issued by the Rajasthan government last week, social media influencers will have to provide proof of their activities on social media. Influencers in Group A should have posted at least 100 videos or 150 posts in the last six months while the requirement is 60 videos or 100 posts in Group B, 30 videos or 50 posts in Group C, and 15 videos or 30 posts in Group D.

The influencers will also need to ensure that the advertisement they put out on their social media handles reaches at least 5 per cent of the total subscribers of followers of the handle and will be required to share analytics reports of their accounts. The notification also mandates that the social media influencers will only be eligible for government ads if their pages or accounts are in operation for at least one year.