A Parliamentary Panel has predicted an immense financial crisis for the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, which currently has a revenue deficit of over Rs 800 crore, if it did not take bold steps to mobilise resources. The budgetary documents have revealed that the revenue receipt of Prasar Bharati have been gradually declining and the gap between the revenue receipt and expenditure has been steeply increasing, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in its 22nd Report tabled in the current session of Parliament.

             The Committee noted that during 2009-10, against revenue projections of Rs 1247.52 crore, the receipts were Rs 1176.26 crore and the expenditure was Rs 2949.40 crore, thus leaving a gap of Rs 1773.14 crore. Similarly in 2010-11 revenue receipts were just Rs 986 crore but the expenditure was Rs 2506.49 crore. The Panel noted that the Group of Ministers had recommended 50 per cent of the annual operating expenses of the Prasar Bharati should be borne by the public broadcaster from its Internal Extra Budgetary Resources(IEBR) and the remaining 50 per cent be met from non-plan grants-in-aid from the Government. However, the Ministry says the revenue of Prasar Bharati had not increased as per the earlier projections while the cost, particularly under the salary head, had gone beyond the projection. After assessing the non-plan budgetary support provided by the Government during 2009-10, 2010-11 and projections for the 2011-12 as also ten per cent growth in revenue during 2011-12, Prasar Bharati has an estimated deficit of Rs 804 crore for these years, the Committee said.

            According to the Ministry if this trend continued, the entire available reserves of Prasar Bharati would be wiped out, resulting in immense financial distress in the working of the Corporation, the Committee said in its report. While noting that Prasar Bharati was a public service broadcaster and not principally guided by commercial considerations, the panel was of the firm opinion that its mandate did not restrict it from generating adequate revenue to meet its operational cost. In fact in the Outcome Budget 2011-12, it has been specifically mentioned that AIR could generate revenue through public private participation (PPP) during the next 10 to 15 years through schemes like sharing of Prasar Bharati infrastructure such as towers, building and land with private broadcasters, mobile services providers on license basis, providing value-added service such as IVRS and SMS based service to the listeners.

           It can also go for rationalisation of rate structures of rental resources and turnkey solutions for establishing 50 to 100 watt community radio stations for university colleges and residential schools and through data audio channel service, it said. It is inexplicable as to why Prasar Bharati has not been able to implement the above schemes which in their own admissions can generate revenue through PPP model for next 10 years, it said. The Committee, however, said the Government should bridge the gap between the revenue and expenditure of the Prasar Bharati till it was able to attain self-sufficiency.

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