India is all set to shine again from December first week after the state elections.
The media cell in the finance ministry has proposed a Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) fund for the 'India Shining' advertising campaign.
According to finance ministry sources, the campaign, which had to be discontinued following the Election Commission's diktat, will be published in leading global newspapers also.
The sources said the plan would be presented to a committee headed by Chief Economic Adviser Ashok Lahiri.
Additional Secretary in the expenditure department D Swarup, Additional Secretary Deepak Sandhu and Joint Secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry Sudhir Mishra are the other members.
Gray Worldwide has designed the print advertisement and the television spots.
The media buying plan will be jointly executed by Gray and the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity.
The sources said the ministry was open to the idea of appointing other advertising agencies also in the second phase of the campaign.
The current theme will continue for at least three months till the Budget for 2004-05 is presented.
The media cell in the finance ministry has prepared a media buying plan to be presented to the committee. While the ministry has not provided funds towards the media campaign in the Budget for 2003-04, a demand could be raised in the supplementary grants.
The 'India Shining' campaign is intended to spread the message that the Indian economy had never had such a wonderful time. It tries to reflect the mood that the country is truly on a growth path.
Besides full-page advertisements in newspapers, the campaign was aired on Doordarshan and private channels.
