The Union government on Monday said it was in the process of revising the government advertisement rates for newspapers. “In the last two-and-half years, the rates have been revised twice…the Rate Structure Committee is in the process of finalising the latest rates,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said while replying to a question during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.
“The rates of publication of advertisements, given out by the DAVP, are reviewed at regular intervals…In addition to that, as a special measure, the commission, which used to be charged by the DAVP has not been charged in order to enhance the rates being charged by the newspapers,” she said.
The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the nodal multi-media advertising agency of the government.
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Ms. Soni also informed the House that as many as 205 applications for empanelment from newspapers and journals were accepted till July 31 of current fiscal. So far in 2011-12, a total of 704 applications were received for empanelment. In 2010-11, 788 applications were approved against a request of 1,689.