Half of ad spend on ten schemes went to GST Bachat Utsav: RTI
The government spent ₹54.5 crore publicising 10 key schemes between 2023-24 and 2025-26, according to RTI responses seen by Business Standard and information presented in the Rajya Sabha. Half of that, ₹27.1 crore, went to the GST Bachat Utsav between September and December 2025. The PM Internship Scheme received ₹12.6 crore and PM Vishwakarma ₹7.4 crore. Eight of the 10 schemes got allocations. Print media took 58.8 per cent of total spending.
Source
Business Standard · read the original report ↗
Desk check · compared with the source
What the desk checked (5)
- The government spent ₹54.5 crore publicising 10 key schemes between 2023-24 and 2025-26. — Figure appears in source, attributed to RTI replies and data presented in the Rajya Sabha.
- GST Bachat Utsav received ₹27.1 crore between September and December 2025, the largest share. — Figure appears in source and is internally consistent with the stated half of ₹54.5 crore.
- PM Internship Scheme got ₹12.6 crore (Oct 2024–Mar 2026) and PM Vishwakarma ₹7.4 crore (Sep 2023–Mar 2026). — Both figures appear in source, drawn from the same RTI responses; no independent verification possible.
- Print media took 58.8% of ad spend, electronic 19.5%, digital 14.6%, outdoor 7.2%. — Breakdown appears in source and sums to 100.1%, a rounding-level discrepancy.
- Higher allocation to GST Bachat Utsav had political undertones, says Paritosh Joshi. — Clearly attributed opinion of a named consultant, not a verified fact.
Analysts’ view opinion
The RTI figures showing that half the ad spend across ten schemes went to a single campaign — the GST Bachat Utsav, and within just four months — say a lot about the Centre's messaging priorities. The strategy visible here is less about publicising schemes in general and more about amplifying, during the festive season, the claim that a tax cut put money directly back in people's pockets. At ₹54.5 crore, or 2.6 per cent of total ad expenditure, the sums are not large; the politics lies in where that small pot was placed.
- Only eight of the ten schemes received any allocation and two got nothing, suggesting communication resources were concentrated around a few flagship messages.
- ₹27.1 crore in four months for the GST Bachat Utsav points to the government recognising the political value of a directly felt consumer benefit over broader scheme awareness.
- The PM Internship Scheme (₹12.6 crore) and PM Vishwakarma (₹7.4 crore) ranking next hints at an implicit focus on youth and artisan constituencies.
- Print's 58.8 per cent share against digital's 14.6 per cent suggests continued reliance on smaller-town and rural readerships rather than a purely online push.
- The opposition is likely to frame this as publicity over delivery, while the government has a reasonable defence that explaining a major tax reform is a legitimate public-information duty — no official reaction from either side is recorded in the story.
What to watch — Watch whether opposition members press further on these numbers in the Rajya Sabha, and whether this spending pattern continues once the GST revenue picture settles.
The story establishes how much was spent and where, but not that the spending decisions were politically motivated, nor that the campaign shifted voter sentiment or consumption.
Deep dive
Research brief · 8 facts · 4 dates · exam-readyThe brief
Context
Responses to a Right to Information query seen by Business Standard, along with information placed in the Rajya Sabha, show how the Union government distributed advertising money across 10 key schemes between 2023-24 and 2025-26. The advertising was administered by the Central Bureau of Communication under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting across print, electronic, digital and outdoor media. The single biggest beneficiary was the GST Bachat Utsav, a 100-day nationwide outreach campaign publicising consumer savings from the rationalisation of GST rate slabs, described as GST 2.0. The data also shows how heavily government publicity still leans on print media.
Key facts
- The government spent ₹54.5 crore publicising 10 key schemes between 2023-24 and 2025-26.
- GST Bachat Utsav received ₹27.1 crore between September 2025 and December 2025 — half the total spend on the 10 schemes.
- PM Internship Scheme recorded the second-highest spend at ₹12.6 crore from October 2024 to March 2026.
- PM Vishwakarma Scheme received ₹7.4 crore between September 2023 and March 2026.
- Of the 10 tracked schemes, eight received advertisement allocations and two received none.
- The ₹54.5 crore on these 10 schemes was 2.6 per cent of the government's total advertisement expenditure.
- Media split across the 10 schemes (FY24-FY26): print 58.8 per cent, electronic 19.5 per cent, digital 14.6 per cent, outdoor 7.2 per cent.
- The advertising was administered through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's Central Bureau of Communication.
Timeline
- September 2023 to March 2026PM Vishwakarma Scheme advertising allocation of ₹7.4 crore.
- October 2024 to March 2026PM Internship Scheme advertising spend of ₹12.6 crore.
- September 2025 to December 2025₹27.1 crore allocated to the GST Bachat Utsav 100-day nationwide campaign.
- 2023-24 to 2025-26 (FY24-FY26)Total of ₹54.5 crore spent on publicising the 10 tracked schemes.
Who has a stake
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting / Central Bureau of Communication — Administers the government's advertising budget across print, electronic, digital and outdoor media.
- Union government — Uses publicity to build awareness of GST rate rationalisation and flagship schemes; faces scrutiny over spending priorities.
- Print media industry — Captured 58.8 per cent of the total ad spending on the 10 schemes, the largest share.
- Digital and outdoor media — Received smaller shares — 14.6 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively — despite audience shifts online.
- Consumers and merchants — Targeted by the GST Bachat Utsav messaging on savings; merchants also ran their own parallel promotional campaigns.
- Rajya Sabha / Parliament — Forum where the scheme-wise advertising information was presented, enabling legislative scrutiny.
- Paritosh Joshi, Provocateur Advisory — Media consultant who read the higher GST campaign allocation as linked to declining net GST revenue and festive-season politics.
Why it matters
Government advertising is public money, and the skew of half the ₹54.5 crore towards a single 100-day GST campaign shows how publicity budgets track the government's immediate political and economic messaging priorities rather than being spread evenly across welfare schemes. The continued dominance of print at 58.8 per cent also raises questions about whether state communication is keeping pace with audiences moving to digital platforms. RTI disclosures and parliamentary answers remain the main route through which such spending becomes publicly verifiable.
UPSC angle
Prelims pointers
- Central Bureau of Communication, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, handles government advertising across print, electronic, digital and outdoor media.
- GST Bachat Utsav: 100-day nationwide campaign on consumer savings from GST 2.0 rate-slab rationalisation; got ₹27.1 crore (Sep-Dec 2025).
- Total ad spend on 10 key schemes, FY24-FY26: ₹54.5 crore, which is 2.6 per cent of total government ad expenditure.
- Media-wise share: print 58.8%, electronic 19.5%, digital 14.6%, outdoor 7.2%.
- PM Internship Scheme: ₹12.6 crore (Oct 2024-Mar 2026); PM Vishwakarma: ₹7.4 crore (Sep 2023-Mar 2026).
- The data came from RTI responses and information presented in the Rajya Sabha.
Mains framing
Government publicity expenditure sits at the intersection of citizens' right to information about schemes and the risk of public funds amplifying political messaging. The RTI data shows that of ₹54.5 crore spent on 10 key schemes from FY24 to FY26, half — ₹27.1 crore — went to a single four-month GST Bachat Utsav campaign, while two of the ten schemes received nothing, suggesting allocation driven by immediate salience rather than by the reach needs of long-gestation welfare programmes such as PM Vishwakarma (₹7.4 crore) or PM Internship Scheme (₹12.6 crore). A media consultant quoted in the story links the concentrated spend to declining net GST revenue and the festive-season need to show tangible tax relief, noting merchants ran parallel promotions, so effective outreach was partly market-driven. The medium mix — print 58.8 per cent against digital 14.6 per cent — points to a communication model lagging audience migration, particularly for youth-facing schemes. The way forward lies in publishing scheme-wise, medium-wise advertising data proactively rather than only through RTI, benchmarking spend against measurable awareness or enrolment outcomes, and ensuring information campaigns for entitlement-based schemes are not crowded out by short, high-visibility drives.
Key terms
- GST Bachat Utsav
- A 100-day nationwide 'savings festival' outreach campaign publicising consumer savings from GST rate-slab rationalisation.
- GST 2.0
- Term used in the source for the reforms rationalising GST rate slabs, whose consumer benefits the campaign highlighted.
- Central Bureau of Communication (CBC)
- Body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that administers government advertising across print, electronic, digital and outdoor media.
- Right to Information (RTI)
- Legal route through which the scheme-wise advertising expenditure data in this story was obtained.
- PM Internship Scheme
- Government initiative that received the second-highest ad allocation, ₹12.6 crore, from October 2024 to March 2026.
- PM Vishwakarma Scheme
- Scheme for traditional artisans and craftspeople; received ₹7.4 crore in ad spend between September 2023 and March 2026.
Practice questions
- Government advertising on schemes is both a citizen's right to information and a potential tool of political messaging. Discuss with reference to recent scheme-wise publicity expenditure data.
- Examine how the medium-wise distribution of government advertising (print 58.8 per cent versus digital 14.6 per cent) affects the reach and effectiveness of scheme communication in India.
- How do RTI disclosures and parliamentary answers strengthen accountability in public expenditure? Illustrate using the case of advertising spend on central schemes.
Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.