Hoardings to be back in Bengaluru, but with more restrictions; draft bylaws aim to increase ad revenue

Hoardings to be back in Bengaluru, but with more restrictions; draft bylaws aim to increase ad revenue

The advertising fee prescribed in the draft bylaws is several times higher than what it was before hoardings were banned in 2018

The draft bylaws stipulate the size of the hoardings to a maximum of 40×20 ft on roads for every 100-metre stretch of the road.
| Photo Credit: File Photo

Advertisement hoardings are all set to make a comeback across Bengaluru, except around Vidhana Soudha, as per the much-awaited Draft Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Advertisement) Bylaws, 2024, notified by the State government on Saturday.

Following outrage over illegal hoardings in the city, the State government had banned all commercial hoardings under the BBMP Outdoor Advertisement and Public Message Bylaws, 2018, except those allowed on PPP projects.

The new draft bylaws for advertising streamline the process of licencing, make it an online process, and bring in several reforms, even as they place several restrictions on commercial advertising. The advertising fee prescribed in the draft bylaws is several times higher than what it was before hoardings were banned in 2018, with an aim to realise the potential of ad fee revenue in the city.

Some of the major restrictions on hoardings, banners and all outdoor advertising

No advertisement, other than self-advertisement, shall be permitted on any road less than 60 ft in width, outside industrial and commercial areasThere shall be no hoarding or advertisement on footpaths and no hoarding shall be projected on a public roadNo advertising in any manner or cause to be advertised through any advertisement stuck, nailed, tied, attached, fixed or in any other manner on any treeNo advertisement shall be permitted on traffic lights or high-mast lights or street lights, or at electricity poles on roads or at circlesNo use of any psychedelic, laser or moving displaysNo video or moving digital advertisements shall be allowedLED displays etc. shall be still and only changing of images after minimum 10 seconds shall be permissibleThe level of luminance of a hoarding shall not exceed a source limit of 1rd/cm square and illumination shall not be continued after 11 p.m.Neon signs on residential premises shall not be flickering and they shall be put off by 10 p.m.No ads can use any colour, words, and signs that may be confused with any authorised traffic sign or signal. Use of words such as words STOP, LOOK, DETOUR, DANGER, CAUTION, and WARNING is bannedNo ads are allowed around the administrative nerve centre of the State: Ambedkar Veedhi, K.R. Circle, Chalukya Circle, Post Office Road, Kumara Krupa Road, Raj Bhavan Road, Seshadri Road, environs of Cubbon Park and Lalbagh, Nrupatunga Road, Palace Road, and SBI Circle to Chalukya Circle.

The draft bylaws impose several restrictions such as banning advertising on roads less than 60 ft wide (except in commercial and industrial hubs), on trees, street lights, electricity poles, on footpaths, abutting public roads, 50 ft from a traffic signal on all arms of the signal, 50 m from any place of worship, etc. The bylaws ban video advertising and impose restrictions on neon lights. The draft even creates an Advertisement Regulatory Committee, headed by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department.

The draft bylaws stipulate the size of the hoardings to a maximum of 40×20 ft on roads for every 100-metre stretch of the road (combining length along both sides of the road) and to a horizontal width of a maximum of 60 ft at circles. This essentially means the licensed agency can put up a hoarding every 100 metres of the road, which many say can clutter the road. The maximum height of a hoarding has been fixed at 75 ft from ground level.

Maximum permissible paid advertisement area

The draft bylaws fix a minimum ground rent in the range of ₹40 per sq. ft to ₹110 per sq. ft of advertising based on the guidance value of the area. This fee can go up in the auction/tender. This will be several times higher than what was prescribed earlier.

“Earlier, we used to spend around ₹1.8 lakh for a hoarding of 40×20 ft in the CBD area for a year’s display. Now, some estimates as per the draft bylaws show it may go up to ₹10 lakh,” said Manmohan Singh, secretary, Outdoors’ Advertising Association, Bengaluru.

While this auction/tender will only give the ad agency the right to advertise on this stretch, they need to broker deals with individual property owners, including government agencies, to put up hoardings on them. An A khata residential property owner has to pay 10% additional property tax, a B khata property owner 100% of the applicable property tax, and a property without a khata, twice the property tax applicable, to allow a hoarding on them.

Minimum ad rate

Any illegal or unauthorised advertising will be removed as soon as it comes to the notice of the civic body, without any prior notice. The draft bylaws put the onus on the property owners to ensure the advertising they allow on their property is legal and in case it is not, the property owner will be penalised. The penalty is fixed at twice the rate fixed in auction/tender for the said road or circle or area, or its nearest spot. Agencies that put up illegal hoardings will be blacklisted.

All outdoor advertising needs to carry a QR code, which should upon scanning display the licensee details, and any hoarding that does not have a QR code will be deemed unauthorised.

Industry welcomes bylaws, but bemoans high fee

The Outdoor Advertising Association, Bengaluru, has welcomed the direction of the draft bylaws. “The general drift of the bylaws seem to be towards transparency. The process has been made online and it will be public. The bylaws also insist that we need to put a QR code, which when scanned takes the person to requisite permissions, on the outdoor media itself. This will streamline the industry and is good for legitimate players,” said Manmohan Singh, secretary of the association.

However, Mr. Singh said the bylaws are vague and lack clarity on norms around tendering out or auctioning space for advertising.

“Unlike earlier, when a hoarding space was licensed, this draft of the bylaws says roads, circles, and areas will be auctioned/tendered out. At the same time, these can be clubbed and at one place, it even says tenders for advertising rights for a zone. These practices may keep out all local agencies, as we are suffering from a washout of our business for the past six years due to a ban imposed by the civic body itself. Large firms from outside will likely monopolise the city’s advertising if the tenders/auctions get bigger. Add to it, the high ad fee,” he said.

‘Advertising now allowed on ‘non-BBMP land’

The draft bylaws, for the first time, allow advertising on “non-BBMP land”, allowing advertising on properties of Indian Railways, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) or bus stands of the KSRTC and the BMTC, and government-owned public sector units. The licence to advertise on these properties shall be issued by respective agencies.

“The BBMP shall divide the whole city into suitable stretches of roads, circles, and areas, and paid advertisements shall be permissible only in these areas. The right to do paid advertisements on these road stretches, circles, and areas shall be given only to the licensed advertising agencies through an open auction/tender in accordance with the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999,” the draft bylaws say. They further say that this process will be online.

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