Lok Sabha Question No. 56 (STARRED), answered on 2017-07-19
Subject: Misleading Advertisements
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: RAM KUMAR SHARMA KUSHWAHA, PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION No. 56

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.7.2017)

## MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS

## *56. SHRI RAM KUMAR SHARMA PROF. PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA

Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING be pleased to state:

- a) Whether  a  sharp  rise  in  turnover  of  entertainment  and  advertisement industries has been reported in the country during the last four years;
2. (b) if so, the details of the annual turnover of these industries during the years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17;
3. (c) the  segment  of  the  information  and  broadcasting  sector i.e. print, electronic media, wall painting and other which received maximum number of advertisements along with the revenue generated therefrom;
4. (d) whether incidents of misleading  the  common  man  through  these advertisements have come to the light and if so, the details thereof; and
5. (e) the corrective action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 56 FOR ANSWER ON 19/7/2017

(a) to (c) As per the Report of Indian Media and Entertainment Industry, 2017 released by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCIKPMG), the details of annual turnover of the entertainment and advertisement industries alongwith the advertisement revenue generated by these industries among different segments during the last four years, i.e. from 2013 to 2016 is placed at Annexure.

(d)  &  (e)  As  regards  in  Print  Media,  Press  Council  of  India  (PCI),  a  statutory autonomous organisation under this Ministry has the power to adjudicate the complaints  received  by  them,  under  Norms  of  Journalistic  Conduct,  2010 emanated from Press Council Act, 1978. The Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2010  inter-alia  provides  that  no  advertisements  shall  be  published  which promotes  directly  or  indirectly  sale,  production  or  consumption  of  cigarette, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor and other intoxicants. It also inter-alia prohibits  advertisements  having  tendency  to  malign  or  hurt  the  religious sentiments  for  offend  the  provisions  of  the  Drugs  and  Magical  Remedies (Objectionable  Advertisement)  Act  as  amended  in  2002.  Further,  PCI  has received  11  complaint  cases  in  2015-16  to  2016-17  pertaining  to  misleading advertisements .

As regards in electronic media, Advertisements telecast on TV channels are required to adhere to the Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and Rules framed thereunder. As per existing regulatory  framework  there  is  no  pre-censoring  on  advertisements.  Action  is taken whenever violation of Code is brought to the notice of the Ministry.

Rules 7(5) of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Rules,  1994 specifically provides 'No advertisement shall contain references which are likely to lead the public to infer that the product advertised or any of its ingredients has some special or miraculous or super-natural property or quality, which is difficult of being proved'. Ministry has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to take cognizance suo-motu or to look into specific complaints regarding contents on private TV channels. IMC functions in a recommending capacity.  This  Ministry  has  received  a  total  of  280  complaints  on  misleading

advertisements during the period 2015 to 2017 (till 30.6.2017). An  advisory  was  issued  by  the  Ministry  on  21.8.2014  advising  all  TV channels  not  to  telecast  advertisements  which  were  found  to  be  violating provisions of Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, ASCI Code and also Drugs & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954.

The Department of Consumer Affairs have established Grievances Against Misleading Advertisement (GAMA) Portal, through which a common man can lodge  a  complaint  against  misleading  advertisements.  These  complaints  are processed by Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) under an MoU with Department  of  Consumer  Affairs.  The  total  number  of  incidents/complaints received by Department of Consumers during the 2015-16 to 2016-17 is 3368.

As part of the self-regulatory initiative of the industry, Advertising Standard Council  of  India  (ASCI),  a  regulatory  body  of  advertisement  industry,  self regulates  advertising  content  to  monitor  and  decide  on  complaints  against advertisements making misleading, false and unsubstantiated claims.

*****

ANNEXURE ANNESURE AS REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 56 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.07.2017 THE INDIAN MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY SIZE (INR

## BILLION) FOR CALENDAR YEARS 2013 TO 2016:

| Media Industry      |   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 | Growth in 2016 over 2015   |
|---------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------------------------|
| TV                  |  417.2 |  474.9 |  542.2 |  588.3 | 8.5%                       |
| Print               |  243.2 |  263.4 |  283.4 |  303.3 | 7.0%                       |
| Films               |  125.3 |  126.4 |  183.2 |  142.3 | 3.0%                       |
| Digital Advertising |   30.1 |   43.5 |   60.1 |   76.9 | 28.0%                      |
| Animation And VFX   |   39.7 |   44.9 |   51.1 |   59.5 | 16.4%                      |
| Gaming              |   19.2 |   23.5 |   26.5 |   30.8 | 16.2%                      |
| OOH                 |   19.3 |   22   |   24.4 |   26.1 | 7.0%                       |
| Radio               |   14.6 |   17.2 |   19.8 |   22.7 | 14.6%                      |
| Music               |    9.6 |    9.8 |   10.8 |   12.2 | 13.0%                      |
| Total               |  918.1 | 1025.5 | 1156.5 | 1262.1 | 9.1%                       |

ADVERTISING REVENUE (INR Billion)

| Type of Media       |   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 | Growth in 2016 over 2015   |
|---------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------------------------|
| TV                  |  135.9 |  154.9 |  181.3 |  201.2 | 11.0%                      |
| Print               |  162.6 |  176.4 |  189.3 |  201.3 | 6.3%                       |
| Digital Advertising |   30.1 |   43.5 |   60.1 |   76.9 | 28.0%                      |
| Out of Home         |   19.3 |   22   |   24.4 |   26.1 | 7.0%                       |
| Radio               |   14.6 |   17.2 |   19.8 |   22.7 | 14.6%                      |
| Total               |  362.5 |  414   |  474.9 |  528.2 | 11.2%                      |

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