← Policy & Regulation: Pricing and Tariff Control (all topics)
DAVP / BOC government advertising rates
What it is
The Central Bureau of Communication, formerly DAVP, sets the rate card at which the central government advertises in newspapers. Rates are revised on the recommendation of a periodically constituted Rate Structure Committee
A 26% increase was approved in late 2025 on the 9th Committee's recommendations - the first revision since Jan 2019, covering colour premiums and preferential positioning
Impact on industries
- A lifeline for smaller publications - central print spend ran near Rs 1,000 cr over five years, and the Centre's card anchors pricing nationwide
- Headline and realised increases differ sharply - ministries hold budgets rather than volumes, so publishers expect an effective gain nearer 10-15% as sizes shrink
- Seven years between revisions is the real problem: the mechanism has no indexation, so publishers absorb input inflation until a committee is convened and reports
- Digital extensions of print still lack a place in government advertising policy, so the rate card rewards the declining medium and not the growing one