A Right To Information (RTI) enquiry by Mumbai-based journalist Anil Galgali has revealed that since coming to power, PM Modi’s government has spent a whopping Rs 4,343 crore on advertisements and publicity in all media platforms.

The RTI plea was filed by Anil Galgali to Centre’s Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) enquiring the expenditure made by the central government on all kinds of advertisements from the day it took office.

Tapan Sutradhar, financial advisor, BOC replied to the RTI query giving breakdown of the expenditure since June 2014:

June 2014 to March 2015 – totalling to Rs 953.54 crore.
Print publicity Rs 424.85 crore Electronic media Rs 448.97 crore Outdoor Publicity Rs 79.72 crore April 2015 to March 2016 – totalling of Rs 1,171.11 crore.
Print publicity Rs 510.69 crore Electronic media Rs Rs 541.99 crore Outdoor Publicity Rs 118.43 crore April 2016 to March 2017- totalling to Rs 1,263.15 crore.
Print publicity Rs 463.38 crore Electronic media Rs 613.78 crore Outdoor Publicity Rs 185.99 crore April 2017 to March 2018 – totalling to Rs 955.6 crore Electronic media Rs 475.13 crore Outdoor Publicity Rs 147.10 crore Between April-December 2017 (nine-month period), the government spent Rs 333.23 crore on the print medium alone.

Reacting to the RTI reply obtained, Anil Galgali said criticisms from the Opposition and on social media over squandering of scarce public resources forced the government to finally cut down its publicity expenditure this year by Rs 307.69 crore.

He further added that it is okay for a government to spend money on publicity but it must be controlled. And the information should be put on websites by the authorities.