In a written reply to an question in Lok Sabha, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said that while the net revenue for the public broadcaster was Rs 726.07 crore (Rs 7.26 billion) and Rs 724.42 crore (Rs 7.24 billion) in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively, it witnessed an increase in 2008-09 when the net revenue grew to Rs 737.05 crore (Rs 7.37 billion).
The minister said that during 2005-06 and 2008-09, there was an increase in operational cost of Doordarshan, on account of grant of dearness pay and impact of recommendations of Sixth Pay Commission on salary respectively.
The operational expenses of Doordarshan in 2005-06 and 2008-09 were Rs 1,069.25 crore (Rs 10.69 billion) and Rs 1,152.42 crore (Rs 11.52 billion) respectively. However during 2006-07 and 2007-08 these were Rs 913.92 crore (Rs 9.13 billion) and Rs 830.27 crore (Rs 8.3 billion) respectively.
The minister said that while the operational cost of Doordarshan did not constantly increase over the last five years, the revenue generation for the same period has shown consistent growth.
Soni in response to another question, said that the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Prasar Bharati was looking into the issues of capital and financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati. She added that reconstitution of GoM is under consideration of the government at present.
