The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh spent over Rs 2.32 crore every day on publicising itself since it was elected to power in 2017, outpacing even the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which spent Rs 1.5 crore per day on advertising for 11 years, Newslaundry reported based on the state government’s budget documents.
The publicity spending, channelled through UP’s Information and Public Relations Department, rose throughout Adityanath’s tenure. It dropped briefly during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic before more than doubling later. Of the total spending, 83 per cent went to a single budget category, advertising and visual publicity, specifically covering payments for news outlets, TV broadcasts and online ads.
However, the government has repeatedly refused Right to Information (RTI) queries seeking information on which platform receives how much amount of money, according to Newslaundry.
Expenditure keeps rising from March 2017 onwards
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured the 2017 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh and Adityanath was sworn in as the Chief Minister on March 17, 2017, the spending increased exponentially over time.
In the first full financial year since becoming the CM, the information and publicity department spent Rs 294.86 crore on advertising itself. The expenditure went up to Rs 330 crore in the following year, 2018-19 and Rs 481.67 crore in 2019-20, the report documented.
Though it dropped to Rs 393.88 crore in 2020-21, it surged soon after, jumping to Rs 1,134.31 crore in 2021-22. This amount does not include the additional Rs 1.67 crore the government spent on advertising Independence Day and Republic Day programmes, Rs 15 crore on the film development fund and Rs 5.38 crore on the welfare fund of journalists.
In 2022-23, spending reached Rs 1,420.03 – the highest in the existing data, and like the previous year, the budget set aside Rs 15 crore for the film development fund, promoting the film sector, Rs 5.52 crore for the journalists’ welfare fund and Rs 0.99 crore for Independence Day and Republic Day events.
Slight dip during COVID-19, then doubles next year
According to the government data, it dipped only slightly in 2023-24 with Rs 1,366 crore, rising to Rs 1,391.18 crore in 2024-25. The government again allocated Rs 15 crore to the film development fund, Rs 2.98 crore to Independence and Republic Day advertising and Rs 0.24 crore to the journalists’ welfare fund.
For the 2025–26 fiscal year, Rs 918.83 crore has been earmarked under these budget heads, though actual spending figures have not been released. The nine-year total is roughly Rs 7,730 crore, or nearly Rs 2.35 crore per day.
Rs 5,658.16 crore, over 83 pc spent on newspaper, TV ads
The BJP-led state spent a whopping Rs 5,658.16 crore, more than 83 pc of all publicity expenditure between 2017-18 and 2024-25, on advertising and visual publicity, which mainly includes television, newspapers and other media.
In this category, the government spent Rs 236.33 crore in 2017-18, Rs 271.90 crore in 2018-19 and steadily rose to Rs 398.23 crore in 2019-20. While the pandemic witnessed a dip of Rs 311.46 crore, it shot back up to Rs 951.75 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 1,158.06 crore in 2022-23, the data showed.
In 2023-24, Rs 1,122.63 crore was spent and Rs 1,205.06 crore in 2024-25, recording the highest amount of money spent for any year.
The second category receiving the largest allocation was print publications, including pamphlets, books, and government releases on development projects.
Expenditure under this section hovered between Rs 27.51 crore and Rs 52.50 crore from 2017–18 through 2020–21. It spiked sharply over the next two years, reaching Rs 149.97 crore in 2021–22 and peaking at Rs 227.44 crore in 2022–23, before easing to Rs 209.14 crore in 2023–24 and Rs 153.15 crore in 2024–25.
Money spent on photo services, field publicity and more
Of the total budget over the course of eight years, field publicity took Rs 220.49 crore, photo services accounted for Rs 7.73 crore, film production received Rs 20.32 crore, and television and community radio received Rs 11.46 crore.
2025-26 budget reaches unprecedented amount
As recently as the last financial year, of the Rs 918.83 crore budget for the Information and Public Relations Department, most of it went to advertising and publicity.
Out of the total budget, advertising and visual publicity received Rs 705.14 crore, publication Rs 171.12 crore and field publicity Rs 37.14 crore.
Additionally, film production, community radio and TV and photo services, like every year, received a few crores each.
The Newslaundry report shows that if the entire budget for 2025-26 is spent, then the total expenditure across the nine years Adityanath was in power will touch Rs 7,730.77 crore, of which Rs 6,360.56 crore accounted for publicity alone.
Although multiple RTI requests to reveal how much is going to whom were denied, a 2021 RTI reply showed that Rs 28.82 crore of the Rs 160 crore given to television advertising had been sent to Network 18 group, headed by Mukesh Ambani.
Newspapers, websites, social media: UP govt ads are everywhere
Even with no information on which platform received allocation from the state government, Newslaundry reported that asianetnews.com was given Rs 94.40 lakh to put up banner advertisements on its website for a month from March 14, 2026. It carried government and campaigns for Swavalamban Udyam, “UP mein mahila saksham hai” and Superfast Raftaar.
The Lucknow edition of Dainik Jagran reportedly carried 54 Uttar Pradesh government ads, including three full-page, 32 half-page and 19 quarter-page. At the same time, Hindustan‘s Lucknow edition carried 49 such advertisements, with other newspapers displaying a strikingly similar pattern.
In January 2026, the information department spent Rs 70.80 lakh on a month-long digital banner campaign on Amar Ujala’s website promoting Mission Shakti and the Ujjwala scheme. A Newslaundry investigation revealed that the state government’s advertising strategy spans a wide array of digital platforms, including ShareChat.
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