I&B Ministry
Day 12: Phase III FM bids slow down with moderate increase in winning price
NEW DELHI: The twelfth day of the e-auction for the first batch of FM Phase III cities continued to slow down even though the cumulative provisional winning price rose marginally to touch Rs 987 crore against the aggregate reserve price of about Rs 425 crore at the end of 48 rounds.
A total of 86 channels in 56 cities – dropping by one channel compared to yesterday – became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price. Thus the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the 86 channels by Rs 562.19 crore or 132.3 per cent.
Overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities – Rs 550.18 crore – by Rs 436.89 crore or 79.4 per cent.
The Auction Activity Requirement remained for the second day at 90 per cent, raised after the 37th round on 7 August.
The thirteen cities for which bids have still not come are Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The demand over the price in most cities fell by up to three per cent and four per cent below the excess demand at the price in 48th round in Hyderabad.
The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round rose to five per cent in Aurangabad and Kolhapur but was just one per cent in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hisar, Jaipur, Mumbai, Nasik and Pune.
The highest Provisional winning price – the same as the Clock round price at the start of the twenty-eighth round – was in Delhi – Rs 156.22 crore (for just one channel), followed by Mumbai – Rs 97 crore, both showing marginal increase compared to yesterday.
Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Chennai at Rs 46.03 crore and Pune at Rs 38.05 crore and marginally in Jaipur at Rs 26.70 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 17.94 crore, Cochin at Rs 11.86 crore and Nasik at Rs 10.30 crore.
Thus Mumbai remains the only city, which may soon cross the Rs 100 crore figure.
Bengaluru at Rs 106.04 crore; Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore and Lucknow at Rs 14 crore remained static.
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.
