I&B Ministry
Mumbai to pay highest fees of Rs 36.7 crore for migration to FM Phase III
MUMBAI: FM operators in Mumbai will have to shell out the highest migration fees of Rs 36.69 crore, payable to the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry for migration from FM Phase II to Phase III.
The I&B Ministry has released the city wise non-refundable one time migration fee (NOTMF) for migration from FM Phase II to Phase III for existing private FM broadcasters.
According to the ministry, after Mumbai, Delhi FM operators follow with the second highest migration fee of Rs 33.33 crore, whereas Bengaluru is third in line with migration fee of Rs 21.60 crore.
Apart from the top three, existing FM operators in 13 cities will have to pay migration fees of above Rs 10 crore. They are: Chandigarh (Rs 19.04 crore), Hyderabad (Rs 18 crore), Patna (Rs 17.89 crore), Coimbatore (Rs 16.87 crore), Cochin (Rs 15.04 crore), Nasik (Rs 14.66 crore), Lucknow (Rs 14 crore), Pune (Rs 14 crore), Ahmedabad (Rs 13.17 crore), Indore (Rs 13.06 crore), Chennai (Rs 12.27 crore), Visakhapatanam (Rs 11.68 crore) and Vadodara (Rs 11.30 crore).
Additionally, FM operators in 47 cities will have to pay migration fees between Rs 10 – Rs 1 crore. They are as follows: Vijayawada (Rs 9.97 crore), Kolhapur (Rs 9.44 crore), Trivandrum (Rs 8.09 crore), Kanpur (Rs 8 crore), Jaipur (Rs 7.74 crore), Bhopal (Rs 7.49 crore), Kolkata (Rs 7.06 crore), Kozhikode (Rs 7.02 crore), Madurai (Rs 6.49 crore), Puducherry (Rs 6.49 crore), Aurangabad (Rs 6.23 crore), Tiruchi (Rs 6.11 crore), Rajkot (Rs 6.08 crore), Amritsar (Rs 6.03 crore), Trichur (Rs 5.65 crore), Varanasi (Rs 5.26 crore), Nagpur (Rs 5.10 crore), Mysore (Rs 4.66 crore), Tirupathi (Rs 4.50 crore), Mangalore (Rs 4.45 crore), Jalandhar (Rs 4.22 crore), Allahabad (Rs 4.08 crore), Kannur (Rs 4.05 crore), Jabalpur (Rs 3.80 crore), Surat (Rs 3.60 crore), Raipur (Rs 3.43 crore), Panaji (Rs 3.18 crore), Agra (Rs 2.56 crore), Shimla (Rs 2.34 crore), Jodhpur (Rs 2.05 crore), Asansol (Rs 2.02 crore), Patiala (Rs 1.64 crore), Rajahmundry (Rs 1.58 crore), Tirunelveli (Rs 1.57 crore), Gulbarga (Rs 1.50 crore), Tuticorin (Rs 1.50 crore), Gwalior (Rs 1.40 crore), Bhubaneshwar (Rs 1.27 crore), Jamshedpur (Rs 1.26 crore), Warangal (Rs 1.25 crore), Siliguri (Rs 1.05 crore), Udaipur (Rs 1.05 crore), Karnal (Rs 1.04 crore), Ranchi (Rs 1.03 crore), Rourkela (Rs 1.02 crore), Jammu (Rs 1.01 crore) and Kota (Rs 1 crore).
The operators who exercised the option to migrate to FM radio Phase III will have an option to withdraw to migrate within five calendar days of intimation of the NOTMF. The option exercised by the operator who do not wish to migrate to FM radio Phase III shall be final and binding on the operators.
I&B Ministry
Press Sewa Portal digitises 1.5 lakh records, streamlines periodical registrations: MIB
Online system spans 780 districts; Rs 5.6 crore penalties, 88,315 titles cancelled
NEW DELHI: India’s print media registry has quietly moved from dusty files to digital dashboards. The government has digitised more than 1.5 lakh historical records of newspapers and periodicals and shifted registrations fully online through the Press Sewa Portal.
Introduced under the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Act, 2023, the portal now handles all applications for registering periodicals, replacing the earlier paper-heavy system created under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which has since been repealed.
The digital shift brings a wide range of services onto a single platform. Publishers can now register new periodicals, revise registrations, transfer ownership, file annual statements, pay penalties online and apply for circulation verification without navigating government offices.
As part of the rollout, specified authorities in 780 districts across India have been onboarded onto the platform. Since 1 March 2024, the portal has processed 11,081 applications and issued certificates across different categories.
The transition has also brought stronger compliance. According to government data, Rs 5.63 crore in penalties has been collected through the portal so far. States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for some of the largest penalty collections.
At the same time, the authorities have carried out a major clean-up of inactive or non-compliant publications. A total of 88,315 periodicals have been cancelled nationwide, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi among the states reporting the highest number of cancellations.
The government says the system will continue to evolve based on feedback from users. The Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) regularly reviews suggestions to improve services and make compliance easier for publishers.
The full list of registered newspapers and periodicals is available on the PRGI website under the Registered Titles section.
The information was shared in a written reply in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs L Murugan, responding to a question from Damodar Agrawal.
