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Government Will Pay More To Buy Newspaper And Magazine Ads

Government will pay 25 percent more on print advertisements ahead of a crucial general election.

A vendor arranges copies of newspapers that feature a BJP wraparound cover advertisement. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
A vendor arranges copies of newspapers that feature a BJP wraparound cover advertisement. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)

The Indian government has announced a 25 percent hike in the rates it pays to print media outlets for carrying its advertisements ahead of a crucial general assembly elections this year.

“The decision will be of great benefit especially to the medium and small newspapers, including a large number of such papers in regional and vernacular languages,” the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said in a media statement. “The decision takes place with effect from today and will be valid for a period of three years.”

That means the new rates will be effective in an election year when typically political parties go on an advertisement blitz. India had last undertaken such a revision in 2013, before the previous elections, when it had increased advertisement rates by 19 percent.

India's Bureau of Outreach and Communication, the nodal agency for advertising by various ministries, state-run firms and autonomous bodies, has spent about Rs 1,857 crore on print advertisements in the last three years, according to a reply in the Rajya Sabha last week. In 2017-2018, there were 11,798 release orders that cost Rs 648.82 crore.

The decision, according to the statement, has been taken by taking into account factors like price of newsprint, processing charges and other factors that go into the computation of advertisement rates.