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CBC spent ₹300- ₹700 crore per year in last 5 years on govt publicity: MIB in LS
The impact of such campaigns is reflected in increase in enrolment for schemes, enhancement in tax collection and widening of tax net, improvement in health indicators, etc
The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB)’s central bureau of communication (CBC) spent between ₹300 crore and ₹700 crore in each of the last five years on awareness and publicity campaigns for the government, minister of state L. Murugan informed the Lok Sabha in a written response on Wednesday. The CBC division of MIB is responsible for advertising on behalf of all central government ministries and departments.
To be sure, YSRCP MP PV Midhun Reddy and Congress MP Dean Kuriakose had asked for “details of the expenditure incurred on advertisements by the Government in the last five years”. The MIB did not give those details.
The MPs had also asked if the government had “devised any parameters to tabulate the rate of return on these advertisements”. “The impact of such campaigns is reflected in increase in enrolment for schemes, enhancement in tax collection and widening of tax net, improvement in health indicators, etc.”, the response said.
Reddy and Kuriakose had also asked if the government planned to use more cost-effective advertising to deliver similar results. “CBC undertakes awareness campaigns for various Government schemes, programmes and initiatives through a media mix of various platforms as per nature of messaging, target audience, budget etc. indicated by client Ministry/Department in the most cost effective manner,” MIB’s response said.
According to the ministry’s annual report for 2022-23, the CBC’s actuals for FY22 were ₹162.02 crore. The allocation for FY23 was revised to ₹196.638 crore, and ₹200.08 crore were allocated for FY24. As per previous annual reports, the budget for CBC, which was earlier called the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC), for FY21 was revised to ₹154.8 crore and for FY20 was revised to ₹160.975 crore.
In the budget, the finance ministry allocated ₹1089.23 crore for FY25 for information and publicity. The expenditure budget for information and publicity includes CBC, Press Information Bureau (PIB), Publications Division, New Media Wing, Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), Secretariat, and the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC).
