Central Govt's Print Adex In Last 5 Yrs Is Rs 190-625 Cr

The Central government has spent Rs 190 crore to Rs 625 crore on newspaper advertisements in the last five years, Information & Broadcasting (I&B) minister Anurag Thakur revealed in the Lok Sabha. The Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC), under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), has empanelled 7,256 newspapers.

The BOC undertakes information, education and communication (IEC) campaign through various media platforms for the dissemination of information about various policies, schemes, programmes and initiatives of the government. Ads are released to empanelled newspapers in accordance with the Print Media Advertisement Policy, 2020.

"The number of newspapers to whom advertisements were issued by BOC ranged between 3,500 and 5,800 during the last five years. The amount of advertisement given to newspapers by the Central government varies across years, having regard to the various priorities, requirements and other aspects of government advertisement and ranged between Rs 190 crore and Rs 625 crore during the last five years," Thakur said.

The minister also said that the BOC releases advertisements to the publications from amongst those empanelled, keeping in view the campaign requirement, available budget, target readership and area and preferences indicated by client departments and as per Print Media Advertisement Policy, 2020.

"At present 7,256 publications including periodicals are empanelled with BOC. As of 24.03.2022, 120 newspapers belonging to the North Eastern States are empanelled with BOC," he added.