New Delhi, May 3 (Inditop.com) The government has cleared the way for financial restructuring of Prasar Bharati to make it more self-reliant, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said Monday.
The Group of Ministers (GOM) meeting cleared the way for the financial restructuring, Soni told reporters here.
The GoM meeting on Prasar Bharati, headed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram, approved the restructuring plan, which has been languishing since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) first came to power in 2004.
The GoM in April was also attended by Soni, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan and Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily.
Soni added that the government has given a go-ahead to the public broadcaster to ramp up recruitment.
The restructuring plan includes the central government capping annual financial support to Prasar Bharati at 50 percent of its operating expenses as non-plan grant and to transfer all property and assets to its books at the cost at which they were acquired.
The plan take effect from the current fiscal 2010-11 and will be reviewed after five years.
The idea is to encourage Prasar Bharati to generate its own resources through innovative programming and financing, official sources said.
The public broadcaster could tap the capital market and other financial institutions for generating funds on its own, without depending on government funding, the sources added.
In 2009-10, Prasar Bharati’s revenues were estimated at Rs.1,050 crore. It was less than 50 percent of its total operating expenses at Rs.2,200 crore.
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