I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati revenues cross Rs 12 billion in FY06
NEW DELHI: “We have been doing quite well this financial year and expect to close our books in March 2006 with Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) in total revenue.” This was what KS Sarma, the CEO of Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati, said in an interview to Indiantelevision.com late last year.
Well, the pubcaster has crossed that figure by a good distance. Prasar Bharati’s revenues for the fiscal 2005-2006 ended 31 March are Rs 12.38 billion, up a whopping 67 per cent from the Rs 8.31 billion it earned last year.
Of this, national broadcaster Doordarshan accounted for Rs 9.6 billion (Rs 968 crore) riding heavily on cricket and Hindi movies. Most significant was the growth on the radio side though, with All India Radio (AIR) registering a 59.6 per cent jump in revenues at Rs 2.7 billion (Rs 270 crore).
In the FY 2004-05 fiscal, Prasar Bharati mopped up revenues of Rs. 8.31 billion with DD contributing Rs 6.70 billion and AIR’s share being Rs 1.61 billion.
In a true corporate style at a press conference organised at five-star hotel here today, Sarma grandly — and proudly— said, “We have managed to establish systems that will make it (revenue) happen.”
Pointing out that the revenue target for 2006-07 is Rs 15 billion, Sarma said sustained initiatives on various front, including marketing and programming, has helped the organisation cross the magical Rs. 10 billion revenue mark.
“This, in spite of lax implementation of regulatory framework relating to mandatory carriage of three DD channels on prime bands on all cable networks,” he added.
Concurring with Sarma on programming front, DD director-general Navin Kumar said the organization took upon itself to “work on viewership of DD in C&S homes.”
Hammering in a point, Kumar flaunted TAM figures (TG: CS 4+; HSM; Period: 2004 and 2005) that shows DD national has a market share of 57 per cent amongst all Hindi language general entertainment. The nearest rival was Star Plus, which had a share of 23 per cent.
But what is surprising as per TAM data quoted by Kumar was that during the period under review, while DD National share rose marginally by one percent, the likes of Star Plus, Sony and Zee TV shed market share.
“This makes it clear that in a scenario when others were slipping primarily due to market share being taken away by news channels, DD National actually registered a small growth in viewership,”Kumar said.
FILMS, CRICKET MAJOR EARNERS
How does some of the major segments stack up as far as their revenue share go?
Though during 2005-06 the gain in viewership because of cricket on DD has been marginal — as per Kumar’s own admissions — the game contributed slightly over Rs 3 billion (Rs 300 crore) to the overall kitty.
The government and other non-profit organisations like National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) contributed almost Rs 1.91 billion to Prasar Bharati kitty as part of the development communication division of share.
Feature films, aired five days every week on different slots under a variety of themes, garnered revenues worth Rs 1.1 billion. “Even a dead slot like Sunday mid-day has started yielding revenue on films,” Prasar Bharati deputy director general Vijaylakshmi Chabbra said.
Under the self-finance commissioned scheme introduced by DD middle of 2005 where the organisation markets programmes after paying outside producers their remuneration, DD managed to mop up about Rs 500 million.
According to Chabbra, “DD is doing in-house marketing of programmes has had phenomenal affect on our revenues. We have successfully managed to arrest the trend of under selling of DD air time in the market by private producers.”
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.
