Govt spent over Rs 1,600 cr on adverts in last three fiscal years: I&B

The central government's expenditure on advertisements through the electronic media in the last three fiscals was over 1,600 crore, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

The objective of undertaking publicity campaigns of government programmes and schemes was to enable the intended beneficiaries to become aware of them and utilise the benefits, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said in a written reply.

The expenditure incurred on advertisements issued on behalf of various ministries and departments by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication through the electronic media such as TV, radio, digital cinema, websites and SMS, during the last three years, was Rs 531.6 crore (2015-16), Rs 609.14 crore (2016-17) and Rs 468.93 crore (2017-18), Rathore said.

His response came to a question on the expenditure incurred by the Union and state governments on government publicity campaigns in the electronic media during the last three years.

Rathore said the information with respect to state governments was not maintained centrally and was not available with the Centre.