Agra OOH industry cries foul against civic body moves

Even as the OOH media owning firms in Agra stage a partial recovery from the effects of demonetisation on advertising spends, the Agra Municipal Corporation has delivered a debilitating blow on the industry by enforcing certain norms and taxes that the Outdoor Advertising Association of Agra views as “totally unfair” and creating conditions for “unfair business practices”.

In the effort to mop up more revenues from advertising, the municipal body has effected a near 4-fold increase in advertising tax from Rs 800 a sq. ft to Rs 4,000 sq. ft. Amit Khatri, President of Outdoor Advertising Association, Agra told Media4Growth that this move is a bodily blow for the small media owners and advertisers in particular. The association is of the view that such a move will create more avenues for the local officials to indulge in corrupt practices.

Raziv, Secretary of the Association, said the civic body has also taken highly arbitrary decisions, such as, giving away ad rights in the Hari Parvat and Madia Katra areas without floating tenders. He also cited that the civic body decided to divide the electric pole kiosks rights across the city into five parts, and as a result, there were no takers for any of the packages. There were seemingly overlap of rights or confusion of which package included which of the electric pole kiosks. The industry body felt that such decisions were being taken without even consulting the OOH industry.