NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Last month, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Maharashtra in-charge Mohan Prakash sought to know how mobile wallet Paytm could place full-page advertisements in national newspapers hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on 8 November.

Prakash claimed it was not possible for newspapers to carry advertisements so late in the day, apparently suggesting that Paytm had already been tipped off about the currency ban. While Prakash’s knowledge about how newspapers operate may not have been accurate, he drove home the point that digital payment companies had benefited from the thrust on going cashless.

He also made the point that the fine line between the advertisement of a product and the government endorsing that product had been blurred. This was the second instance of a company advertisement featuring Modi’s picture, the first being one by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

In December, Union minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore told Parliament that Reliance Jio had not sought government permission to use the prime minister’s picture.