Government ad spend crosses Rs 2,300 crore since 2020-21, TMC claims

Trinamool Congress on Monday reportedly claimed that there has been an over 84% increase in the Union government's expenditure on advertisements between 2020-21 and 2024-25.

The party also slammed the government for not presenting this information in Parliament and stating instead that the figures were available on the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) website.

TMC leader Derek O'Brien on August 8 in Rajya Sabha, had asked for details of the Union government's advertisement expenditure and publicity campaigns in newspapers and television media in the last five years.

In a written reply, according to the media report, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr. L. Murugan stated that the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) issues advertisements on behalf of various ministries and departments, and details of this expenditure are available on the CBC's website www.davp.nic.in.

O'Brien slammed the government for not giving a reply. TMC also collated and analysed the data from the website, noted the reports.

"This shaky Modi coalition has found another way to mock Parliament. Now, instead of giving answers directly during the Question Hour, they are directing the MPs to go visit websites. We went there and look what we found!" O'Brien said while addressing the Parliament.

TMC's analysis of the data on the DAVP website reportedly shows that the government spent Rs 349.24 crore on advertisements in 2020-21, which went down to Rs 274.87 crore in 2021-22. In 2022-23, the government spent Rs 347.38 crore on advertisements, which increased to Rs 656.08 crore in the pre-election year 2023-24. In 2024-25, the expenditure was Rs 643.63 crore.

As per the reports, " O'Brien said, "Startling figures that show how the PM (Prime Minister) has become PRM (Public Relations Minister). That and not tabling answers in Parliament. New lows."

The total ad spend from 2020-21 till August 2025 is Rs 2,320.14 crore. The average expenditure per year for 66 ministries is Rs 454 crore.