The Wage Boards for the working journalists and other employees of the newspapers/news agencies, headed by Justice G.R. Majithia, have claimed that the gross revenue of the print media has been increasing and in 2014 it is expected to reach Rs.269 billion
Justifying the wage hike proposed by the Boards in their recommendations, Justice Majithia pointed out in his report to the Labour and Employment Ministry that the gross revenue, which was Rs.139 billion in 2006, went up to Rs.175 billion in 2009. “The gross revenue of the print media industry grew at the compound annual rate of 8.12 per cent during 2006-09 and is projected to grow at the compound annual rate of 9 per cent during 2009-14.”
During the period 2009-2014, the advertisement revenue is expected to record a compound growth rate of 11.6 per cent per annum and that of circulation revenue by 5 per cent. “The labour cost of the industry ranges from 10 to 14 per cent of the total cost.”
Justice Majithia claimed that the capacity to pay the recommended wage structure by — large, medium and small classes of — media establishments was assessed based on the financial date of a statistically representative cross section of around 40 establishments. He regretted that the response to Boards' efforts to obtain financial data from newspaper establishments was not encouraging.
