Kochi: At a time when the Kerala State Road Corporation (KSRTC) is battling a financial crisis, the tendering of advertisement rights have brought it a good fortune this time over.
The Karunagapally-based Orange Advertising bagged the licensee rights for displaying advertisements in KSRTC buses for Rs 21 crore a year while the Ernakulam-based Chams Branding Solutions India Pvt Ltd won the rights in KURTC low-floor buses for Rs 5.33 crore a year.
“The ad revenue has clocked a growth of 300 per cent rise this year compared to previous one. The revenue of the previous year was Rs 8.38 crore for ads displayed in KSRTC buses and Rs 1.30 crore that in low-floor buses,” said a senior KSRTC official.
The rights have been granted to the advertisement firms for a period of five years and the corporation will receive a whopping Rs 161 crore in five years as compared to '59 crore total revenue entitled under the previous agreement.
Meanwhile, the management, encouraged by the response, has decided to set up hoardings and video walls at all bus stations for displaying advertisements as part of maximising the revenue from non-operating sources.
“The first station where the hoarding ad rights will be doled out is Kollam for which the tenders will be floated on October 23. We’ve also decided to invite bids for displaying ads through digital system in the back portion of buses plying as Pamba-Nilackal chain services,” the official said.
The KSRTC continues to be the top loss-making PSU in the state with accumulated losses of Rs 1,770 crore, according to the study by the State Bureau of Public Enterprises.
