Rs 2.3 crore a day, 8 years: Yogi govt outspends Modi govt when it comes to ads

Eight years, and more than Rs 2.32 crore a day.

That is what the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has spent, on average, publicising itself since coming to power. Between financial years 2017-18 and 2024-25, the state spent Rs 6,811.94 crore on advertising and publicity – a daily average of Rs 2.32 crore. The figure outpaces even the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which has spent roughly Rs 1.5 crore a day on advertising over 11 years.

The spending is routed through the state’s Information and Public Relations Department, and it has grown steadily through Adityanath’s tenure, dipping only in the first year of the pandemic before more than doubling. Over 83 percent of it has gone to a single budget head – advertising and visual publicity, the money that flows to newspapers, television channels and, increasingly, digital platforms. Who receives that money is a question the government has repeatedly declined to answer in RTI queries. Newslaundry obtained these expenditure figures from the state government’s own budget documents.

The BJP won the 2017 assembly election, and Adityanath was sworn in as chief minister on March 17, 2017.

Rising year after year

In 2017-18, the first full financial year after Adityanath took office, the information department spent Rs 294.86 crore on publicity. Spending climbed to Rs 330 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 481.67 crore in 2019-20.

It fell to Rs 392.88 crore in 2020-21, the year of the Covid pandemic. Then it surged.

In 2021-22, publicity spending jumped to Rs 1,134.31 crore. The same year, the state spent an additional Rs 1.67 crore publicising Independence Day and Republic Day events, Rs 5.38 crore on the journalists’ welfare fund and Rs 15 crore on the film development fund.

The following year, 2022-23, spending touched Rs 1,420.03 crore – the highest in the available data, corresponding with an election year. That year’s budget separately set aside Rs 15 crore for the film development fund to promote the film sector, Rs 5.52 crore for the journalists’ welfare fund, and Rs 0.99 crore for Independence Day and Republic Day events.

Spending dipped slightly to Rs 1,366.34 crore in 2023-24, then rose again to Rs 1,391.18 crore in 2024-25. That year also saw Rs 15 crore go to the film development fund, Rs 2.98 crore to Independence Day and Republic Day publicity, and Rs 0.24 crore to the journalists’ welfare fund.

For 2025-26, the government has made a budget provision of Rs 918.83 crore across these heads. How much of it has actually been spent is not yet public. If we include the figures for 2025-26, the total comes to around Rs 7,730 crore over nine years – or Rs 2.35 crore per day.

The post-Covid surge in advertising

An analysis of the Information and Public Relations Department’s expenditure shows that between 2017-18 and 2024-25, the single largest share of the publicity budget went to “advertising and visual publicity” — money spent on newspapers, television and other media. The total came to Rs 5,658.16 crore, more than 83 percent of all publicity expenditure in the period.

This section absorbed Rs 236.33 crore in 2017-18, Rs 271.90 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 398.23 crore in 2019-20. In the pandemic year of 2020-21, it was Rs 311.46 crore. It then rose to Rs 951.75 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 1,158.06 crore in 2022-23, before recording Rs 1,122.63 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 1,205.06 crore in 2024-25 – the highest for any year on record.

After advertising and visual publicity, the largest outlay was on publications – the booklets, pamphlets and books the government brings out about its development work. Between 2017-18 and 2024-25, this head accounted for Rs 896.64 crore.

Under this section, it was Rs 29.69 crore in 2017-18, Rs 27.51 crore in 2018-19, Rs 47.12 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 52.50 crore in 2020-21. Then it climbed sharply – Rs 149.97 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 227.44 crore in 2022-23, the highest in the period – before settling at Rs 209.14 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 153.15 crore in 2024-25.

Over the eight years, field publicity accounted for Rs 220.49 crore. Photo services took Rs 7.73 crore, community radio and television Rs 11.46 crore, and film production Rs 20.32 crore.

Advertising remains the biggest bet in 2025-26

The Rs 918.83 crore budgeted for the Information and Public Relations Department in 2025-26 again leans heavily on advertising.

The allocation sets aside Rs 705.14 crore for advertising and visual publicity, Rs 171.12 crore for publications, Rs 37.14 crore for field publicity, Rs 2.74 crore for film production, Rs 1.81 crore for community radio and television, and Rs 0.88 crore for photo services.

If the entire 2025-26 budget is spent, total expenditure by the department between 2017-18 and 2025-26 will reach Rs 7,730.77 crore – of which advertising and visual publicity alone will account for Rs 6,360.56 crore.

Who gets the money?

To find out how much advertising is going to whom, Newslaundry filed several RTI requests with the UP government, but the state’s information department did not share the data. Some applications went unanswered; others were rejected on the grounds that compiling information of this scale would take too long.

In 2021, however, Newslaundry published a report based on an RTI response which showed that the Adityanath government had spent Rs 160 crore on television advertising in a single year. Of that, Rs 28.82 crore went to the Network18 group, led by Mukesh Ambani.

Ads everywhere

Turn on a news channel, open a website, pick up a newspaper or magazine, or travel anywhere from a small town in Uttar Pradesh to the national capital, and the state government’s advertisements are hard to miss.

Over 29 days this July, the Lucknow edition of Dainik Jagran carried 54 Uttar Pradesh government advertisements – three full-page, 32 half-page and 19 quarter-page. That works out to at least two a day. The Lucknow edition of Hindustan carried 49 in the same period: three full-page, 29 half-page and 17 quarter-page. Other newspapers show much the same pattern, day after day.

The pattern extends online. Newslaundry has learnt that asianetnews.com received Rs 94.40 lakh to run banner advertisements on its website for 30 days beginning March 14, 2026, carrying campaigns for Swavalamban Udyam, “UP mein mahila saksham hai” and Superfast Raftaar. The same campaign was issued to oneindia.com at the same time, also for Rs 94.40 lakh.

In January 2026, the information department commissioned a month-long banner campaign on Amar Ujala’s website for Mission Shakti and the Ujjwala scheme, at a cost of Rs 70.80 lakh. Newslaundry found that the state government has placed advertisements on platforms as varied as ShareChat.

Beyond the information department

All the advertising described so far was issued by the information department. But other departments in Uttar Pradesh issue their own.

An RTI response showed that the Department of Industries and Enterprise Promotion spent Rs 60 crore on publicity between 2024-25 and 2025-26. Of this amount, approximately Rs 12 crore was spent on publicity during the Kumbh in Prayagraj.

According to copies of documents seen by Newslaundry, the Directorate of Industries and Enterprise Promotion signed an agreement with the website YourStory in July 2025. Under the agreement, YourStory was to be paid Rs 70 lakh to record and showcase more than 100 success stories of ‘One District, One Product’ entrepreneurs, artisans and innovators across all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh; produce a video film on local heritage, employment, artisan empowerment and the global reach of the “Made in UP” brand; prepare 500 coffee table books documenting the distinctive crafts, innovation and heritage of all 75 districts; and create reels and video features in regional languages promoting local craftsmanship.

YourStory website carries dozens of stories about ODOP in Uttar Pradesh.

Newslaundry has sent questions to the state’s information department and YourStory. This report will be updated if a response is received.

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