I&B Ministry
Govt earns over Rs 2,400 crore as licence fee from DTH players in 3 years: Rathore
NEW DELHI: A sum of Rs 2400.45 crore has been earned by the government from licence fee from the six private direct-to-home players in the last three years.
Lok Sabha was told in a written reply by Minister of State for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) that while “there is no restriction on the total number of DTH licenses, no new application has been received in the Ministry for grant of DTH license.”
He said that a sum of Rs Rs.836.52 crores was earned in 2014-15, while the revenue from licence for 2015-16 was Rs.816.15 crores and for 2016-17 was Rs.747.78 crores.
The Ministry has granted license to six private companies: Dish TV India Limited; Tata Sky Limited; Sun Direct TV Pvt. Limited; Reliance BIG TV Limited; Bharti Telemedia Limited and Videocon d2h Limited
In addition, pubcaster Doordarshan provides a free-to-air DTH services in the country from its platform Freedish, which only requires a one-time investment in purchasing the dish and linked set-top-box.
DTH licenses, under the DTH guidelines, are granted to those companies which fulfill the eligibility criteria, terms and conditions and are subject to security clearance and technical clearances by the appropriate authorities of the government. The details are available on the website of this Ministry at www.mib.gov.in.
In a related development, broadcast carriage regulator TRAI has set in motion a consultation process to explore whether the private DTH operators and other distribution platforms can share infrastructure so as to optimise their usage and reduce overall cost.
The TRAI proposal has elicited mixed response from DTH operators till now, while Hong Kong-based Asian pay TV industry organisation CASBAA has opposed any government or regulator mandated sharing on the ground that consumers will not benefit ultimately, apart from other reasons.
I&B Ministry
Government sets up AI governance group to steer policy
AIGEG to align ministries, assess jobs impact, guide AI deployment.
MUMBAI: If artificial intelligence is the engine, the government is now building the dashboard and making sure everyone reads from the same screen. The Centre has constituted a new inter-ministerial body to coordinate India’s approach to AI, formalising a key recommendation from its governance framework and the Economic Survey. The AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will act as the central platform to align AI-related policy across ministries, regulators and departments, an attempt to bring coherence to what has so far been a fragmented and fast-evolving landscape.
The group will be chaired by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson. Its composition reflects both technological and economic priorities, bringing together the principal scientific adviser, the chief economic adviser, and the CEO of NITI Aayog, alongside key secretaries from telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat is also part of the group, while the MeitY secretary will serve as member convenor.
At its core, AIGEG is designed to do two things: coordinate and anticipate. On the policy front, it will review existing regulatory mechanisms, issue guidance across sectors and ensure companies remain compliant with evolving legal frameworks. Beyond that, it will oversee national initiatives on AI governance, with a focus on enabling responsible innovation rather than merely regulating it.
The economic dimension is equally central. The group has been tasked with assessing how AI-driven automation could reshape jobs identifying which roles are most at risk, where those impacts may be geographically concentrated, and whether technology will augment or replace human labour. Based on these assessments, it will develop mitigation strategies and transition plans, signalling a more proactive stance on workforce disruption.
In parallel, AIGEG will work with industry stakeholders to chart a long-term roadmap for AI adoption, categorising use cases into “deploy”, “pilot” or “defer” buckets depending on readiness factors such as data availability, skill levels and regulatory clarity. The aim is to move from broad ambition to structured execution deciding not just what can be built, but what should be built now.
The group will function as the apex layer in India’s AI governance architecture, supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee that will track global developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities. Together, the two bodies are expected to shape both the pace and direction of AI adoption in the country.
In a landscape where technology often outruns policy, the creation of AIGEG signals an attempt to close that gap ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just rapid, but also coordinated, accountable and economically grounded.
