MUMBAI: Concerned at the huge gap between revenue and expenditure, a Parliamentary Committee has refused to accept the excuse that Prasar Bharati being a public service broadcaster is not principally guided by commercial consideration.
In its report on the budget of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for 2013-14, the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology has expressed regret that ‘nothing concrete’ has been done despite the Ministry itself expressing the apprehension that ‘if this trend continues it would result into wiping out the entire available reserve of Prasar Bharati and the organization may find itself in immense financial distress.’
The Committee noted that the gap between the revenue projected and the revenue earned by Prasar Bharati has been increasing year after year. It expressed concern over ‘the increasing disparity between the revenue earned and expenditure year after year.’
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During the year 2011-12 and 2012-13, the revenue projection was Rs 1650 crore and Rs 1815 crore respectively and the revenue receipts for the years were Rs. 1409.54 and 1263.56 crore (up to February 2013). This meant a gap of Rs 240.46 crore in 2011-12, and Rs 551.44 crore in 2012-13 up to February this year.
The Committee find that during the year 2010-11, the gap between revenue earned and expenditure was Rs. 1633.73 crore which increased to Rs. 1931.03 crore in the year 2011-12 and further swelled to Rs. 1376.32 crore in 2012-13.
The Committee was also ‘dismayed’ to note that during the year 2012-13, the revenue generated by All India Radio and Doordarshan was Rs 1263.56 crore and expenditure incurred from Internal and Extra-Budgetary Resources (up to February 2013) was Rs. 1583.43 crore leading to a gap of Rs 319.87 crore between the revenue earned and expenditure met out of IEBR.
For the Twelfth Plan, the proposed IEBR was Rs 5000 crore while the approved IEBR was Rs. 1000 crore. For the year 2012-13, Rs 400 crore had been earmarked under IEBR component but was reduced to Rs 200 crore at Revised Estimate Stage.
The Committee said: ‘It is astonishing to note that despite widening gap between revenue receipt and expenditure, the target for IEBR during Twelfth Plan have been reduced to mere Rs 1000 crore.’
The Committee therefore wanted to know the rationale behind the steep reduction in IEBR target and how it is proposed to meet the burgeoning expenditure without generating IEBR. It wants the Ministry to re-visit this vital aspect. The Committee would await necessary details in this regard.
The Committee appreciated the aggressive marketing strategies being adopted by Prasar Bharati, and noted that Prasar Bharati is also exploring the feasibility of revenue generation by utilizing the extra space commercially by installation of
ATM machines, installation of electronic displays for advertisements of private parties, launching of IVR/SMS based services to provide news headlines and letting of FM transmitters to private parties.
While these were good initiatives, the Committee said it was ‘not satisfied with the pace of progress as so far only one office of Prasar Bharati has been identified for installation of ATM and the Ministry/Prasar Bharati are yet to make a survey of their total land and buildings to assess spare infrastructure.
The Committee wants Prasar Bharati to make ‘more rigorous efforts in the asset management area and try to generate more revenues by adopting aggressive marketing strategy and better professional handling of the Marketing Division which in turn will make it financially more viable and secured’.
