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NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati continues to be in a financial precarious
position as its operating expenses far outstrip revenue in
the fiscal ended 31 March 2012.
The
pubcaster's revenue stands at Rs 11.83 billion for the first
10 months of the fiscal, according to data provided by Information
and Broadcasting Ministry sources.
After
meeting the operating expenditure of Rs 28.51 billion, its
deficit stares large at Rs 16.68 billion for the fiscal till
January-end (subject to reconciliation of accounts). Prasar
Bharati is yet to make its results public.
Out of the total deficit, Rs 13.89 billion has been met from
Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR), I&B sources
say.
In comparison, the deficit in 2010-11 had been Rs 12.37 billion,
of which Rs 11.35 billion had been met through IEBR. The pubcaster
had earned revenue to the tune of Rs 13.10 billion in the
fiscal.
Meanwhile, the outlay in the Annual Plan (2012-13) for Prasar
Bharati has been fixed at Rs 5.85 billion. The Government
will provide total financial support in the form of Grant-in-aid
and loan.
There will be a new scheme - Content Development and Dissemination
- which is to be fully funded by IEBR of Prasar Bharati towards
Revenue Plan component, Ministry sources add.
The approved budget for Prasar Bharati under Revenue Non-Plan
for the financial year 2012-13 is Rs 14.62 billion. The Government
has trifurcated the Revenue Non-Plan support to Prasar Bharati
in the form of Grants-in-aid (Salary), Grant for creation
of Capital Assets, and Grants-in-aid (General).
All India Radio gets Rs 7.60 billion while Doordarshan gets
Rs 7.02 billion of this non-plan allocation, a source reveals.ke.
Meanwhile,
the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology
has noted that the Commercial revenue earned by Doordarshan
is lesser than the projections made during each year of the
Eleventh Plan. It states that the growth of the revenue earned
by Doordarshan has been “very slow” during these
years, noting that IEBR of Rs 50 billion at the rate of Rs
10 billion for each of the annual plans has been assumed for
the Twelfth Plan.
In
this direction, Rs 4 billion out of IEBR has been earmarked
during the year 2012-13 for planned projects of Prasar Bharati.
The share of Doordarshan in this regard is Rs 2.5 billion.
The Committee is “surprised to find that on the one hand,
specific provision has been made and exclusive outlay out
of IEBR has been earmarked for planned schemes. On the other
hand, the Ministry has submitted in the written replies that
Prasar Bharati may not be in a position to afford the expenditure
for planned schemes for IEBR.”
The Committee was also informed that according to the recommendations
of the Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati, the Government
will meet expenditure for four categories: Salary & Salary
related establishment expenses, expenses on Augmentation &
Replacement of Capital Assets and the expenditure on the remaining
items, Other Administrative Expenses, and Software & Programme
related expenses.
In addition, Prasar Bharati has to supplement IEBR in all
these four categories and remain in focus for budget crisis
and paucity of funds.
Pending a decision of the Government on the recommendations
of GoM, a specific projection out of IEBR for planned schemes
has been met for the first time.
The Committee concludes that Prasar Bharati has great challenges
in the coming years in regard to generating resources for
the activities. The Committee “strongly” recommends
that DD should explore all the possibilities of revenue generation
so as to meet the targets of projections made for planned
schemes out of IEBR.
The Committee also notes that Doordarshan has to prepare for
meeting the devised parameters of sharing the expenditure
according to the formula suggested by GoM.
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