I&B Ministry
Day 19: Kohlapur inches towards Rs 10 crore mark in FM Phase III bidding
NEW DELHI: After nineteen days in the bidding for the first batch of FM Phase III cities, Kohlapur with a price of Rs 9.34 crore is now inching towards the Rs 10 crore mark.
Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose marginally only in Nasik at Rs 14.66 crore. Moreover cities like Kanpur, Rajkot, Amritsar and Aurangabad are also not far behind.
However, interest appeared to be flagging with the cumulative provisional winning price rising very marginally to touch about Rs 1128 crore at the end of the 76th round on the nineteenth day.
With this, a total of 94 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 459 crore.
Thus the total bids of the provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 94 channels by Rs 669.24 crore or 145.8 per cent.
The cumulative provisional winning price has risen over the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities – Rs 550.18 crore – by Rs 577.92 crore or 105 per cent.
The Auction Activity Requirement rose to 100 per cent after the 59th round on 14 August, after being 90 per cent after the 37th round on 7 August.
As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, despite the slow down, as per Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources, the auction will continue as long as bids are received for any of the 135 channels.
Bids continued to elude thirteen cities for the nineteenth day today, with no takers for channels in Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The demand in most cities fell by up to three per cent and by four per cent below the excess demand at the price in the 76th round in Hyderabad.
The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round rose to five each in Guwahati, Shillong and Varanasi but was just one in Jodhpur and Kolhapur.
The provisional winning price in the top three cities reflected no change: Delhi at Rs 1.69.16 crore (for just one channel); Mumbai at Rs 122.81 crore (for two channels); and Bengaluru at Rs 109.25 crore.
Chennai at Rs 53.38 crore, Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Pune at Rs 42.03 crore, Jaipur at Rs 28.34 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 19.04 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore, Cochin at Rs 15.04 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.
