NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, July 21,  that the government spent Rs 911.17 crore during the previous three years, on advertisements in newspapers, television programmes, and web portals.

The Minister said, the Central Bureau of Communications paid for the commercials from the 2019–20 fiscal year to June 2022. He said,  the government spent Rs 295.05 crore on advertisements in 5,326 newspapers in 2019–20, Rs 197.49 crore in 5,210 publications in 2020–21, Rs 179.04 crore in 6,224 publications in 2021–22, and Rs 19.25 crore in 1,529 publications in 2022–23 (till June).

The government also spent Rs 98.69 crore on commercials during the same time period in 2019–20, Rs 69.81 crore in 2020–21, Rs 29.3 crore in 2021–22, and Rs 1.96 crore in 2022–23 (until June) on 265 news stations.

In reply to a query from Congress member Digvijaya Singh, the minister stated that the government spent Rs 9.35 crore on 54 websites in 2019–20, Rs 7.43 crore on 72 websites in 2020–21, Rs 1.83 crore on 18 websites in 2021–22, and Rs 1.97 crore on 30 websites in 2022–23 (till June 2022).

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