I&B minister Anurag Thakur gave a break-up of the spending in response to a question by Congress MP Digivijaya Singh in the Rajya Sabha.

The Narendra Modi government has spent more than Rs 900 crore on advertisements in newspapers, TV channels and web portals since 2019, union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Responding to an unstarred question by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, Thakur provided a year-wise break-up of the money spent by the Central Bureau of Communication for print, television and online ads.

Nearly Rs 200 crore was spent on TV ads, with Rs 98.69 crore given to 270 channels in 2019-20, Rs 69.81 crore to 318 channels in 2021-21, Rs 29.3 crore to 265 channels in 2021-22, and Rs 1.96 crore till June in the current financial year, the minister said.

The spending on print ads was much higher at Rs 690.83 crore, with Rs 295.05 crore given to 5,326 papers in 2019-20 alone. In 2021-22, the number of papers that received the ad money increased to 6,224 but the amount decreased to Rs 179.04 crore.

Rs 20.58 crore has been spent on ads in digital media since 2019, according to the minister.

The list of TV channels, newspapers and digital platforms which banked the money is available on the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity’s website.