Information and Broadcasting ministry will soon launch auctioning of 839 new FM radio stations and the process would be completed within a financial year.

“The ministry is all set to launch the auction process of 839 new FM radio stations across 295 towns in India,” I&B secretary Uday Kumar Varma said at the National Editors’ Conference here today.

He said the process would be completed in a single financial year to ensure that FM radio services reach all towns over a population of one lakh or more.

Varma also said Indian print media has shown unusual healthy growth exceeding 10 per cent per annum in recent years.

Hindi print market grew by 9.8 per cent from Rs 62 billion in 2011 to Rs 68 billion in 2012. The same trend was reflected almost by the same percentage of other vernacular press, he said.

Varma said Internet has emerged as a new paradigm in the communication space and has seriously challenged the conventional modes of information dissemination.

The very fact that Finance Minister was on a ‘Google plus hangout’ after the budget, showed the importance of social media, he said.

“We are therefore trying to redraw the parameters of existing communication approaches. There has been a considered view to frame a social media policy and strategic dissemination and perception management on behalf of the government,” Varma said.

He said while certain ministries have initiated their presence on the social media, there is a felt need of convergence and integration of communication through an identified hub on behalf of the government.

“We are actively and urgently working towards it,” he said.

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