Doordarshan has become operationally profitable in FY19: Supriya Sahu

Public broadcaster Doordarshan has claimed that it has become a profitable entity in FY19. The pubcaster has been making losses year after year.

DD DG Supriya Sahu said that the public broadcaster has recorded highest revenue in 2018-19. The pubcaster’s gross and net revenue stood at Rs 1113.7 crore and Rs 943.8 crore respectively. In 2017-18, Doordashan’s gross and net revenue stood at Rs 1027.7 crore and Rs 884.4 crore respectively.

DD Director General Supriya Sahu tweeted, “A new record created by team DD. Highest revenue earned in the last five years. Doordarshan turns around. No longer a loss making organisation. Now operationally profitable.”

It is pertinent to note that Prasar Bharati had revised its FY18 revenue target downward by Rs 100 crore due to due to non-auctioning of slots on Doordarshan’s free direct to home (DTH) platform Free Dish and non-implementation of slot sale policy.

Prasar Bharati had set a target of Rs 1488 crore revenue for the ongoing fiscal. However, that target was revised to Rs 1388 crore.

However, it must be noted that the Prasar Bharati has come out with new guidelines for auctioning slots on DD Free Dish. The pubcaster has mopped up over Rs 400 crore from auction of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 slots.

In its demand for grants 2018-19 report, the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology had noted that Prasar Bharati has not been able to meet the target set by them in respect of their revenue earnings throughout the 12th Plan Period.

It noted that the pubcaster had earned Rs. 1552.90 crore in FY13 against a revenue projection of Rs. 1815.00 crore. Similarly, in FY14, FY15, FY16, and FY17 the revenue realised against the projected revenue was Rs. 1622.84 crore (Rs. 1996 crore), Rs. 1537.36 crore (Rs. 2195.00 crore), Rs. 1393.41 crore (Rs. 2200 crore) and Rs. 1425.00 crore (1504.82 crore) respectively.