Rs 60 cr till Jan: BBMP hits jackpot with ad revenue

Rs 60 cr till Jan: BBMP hits jackpot with ad revenue
By S Lalitha, DH News Service, Bangalore:
BBMP's revenue through advertisements this financial year is breaking all records. The over Rs 60 crore earned up to January-end is a six-fold increase over its revenue earned during the previous financial year and the figure is expected to increase further by March-end.


The main source of income is the Rs 25 crore from the auction-cum-tender contract of seven Electronic Display Systems (LEDs), each fetching BBMP a revenue of Rs 33 lakh, awarded to Anil Ambani’s Ad Labs group last month, G M Gangadharaswamy, Assistant Commissioner (Advertising) told Deccan Herald. “Along with taxes, it comes to Rs 26 crore for the first year. It would be much higher after the 10 per cent escalation each year and this contract alone will fetch us up to Rs 100 crore during the three-year duration of the contract.” The contract was awarded on January 4.

In contrast to the huge revenue from LEDs, BBMP gets a tax amount of a mere Rs 6 to 7 crore from the approximately 2,800 hoardings in the City.

The money accrued through advertising in Bangalore this year is greater than that made by any of the metro cities, he added. The LEDs will come up at these spots: Commercial Street-Jumma Masjid Road, Brigade Road-M G road Junction, Brigade Road-Residency Road junction, South End Circle, Jayanagar-Vijaya Junior College, Minerva Circle and Palace road (opp Cauvery theatre junction). These LEDs could probably emerge as the highest advertising space in the world, he said.

The contract awarded to Hype Integrated for advertising inside Nirmala toilets is fetching Rs 50 lakh a month, the Assistant Commissioner said. This would continue for three years. Another huge revenue grosser is the awarding of contracts on a Build-Operate-Transfer for bus shelters.

There will be over 800 bus shelters in the City when compared to the figure of 373 that existed earlier. “We are expecting Rs 10 crore more before the financial year draws to a close,” Gangadharaswamy said.
Decentralisation steps which ensured that the zones were empowered to regulate and monitor advertisement boards also played a major role in ensuring better revenue collection, he added.