| Income rose though some big advertisers decided to either stay away from advertising or advertise less during the period. |
| According to Nirmal Thakur, secretary of Outdoor Advertising Agency Association in Kolkata, "We have collected more than Rs 51 lakh this year from advertisers. This was the amount we paid to KMC for outsourcing the job to us. We have also been able to collect the additional Rs 5 lakh operational costs." |
| KMC collected around Rs 33 lakh as display tax during Durga Puja in 2006. |
| Outdoor advertising and display tax collection during Durga Puja rose thanks to brands like Peerless, Pepsico, Bank of Baroda, Airtel and Reliance, among others, claimed Thakur. |
| He said the growth was also due to lower charges per square foot of space levied by KMC after signage painting and designing sector, all small and micro scale enterprises, pleaded for it. |
| Advertisers paid Rs 15 per square foot this year against Rs 23 per square foot levied by KMC last year. |
| KMC this year outsourced the task of collecting display tax during Durga Puja to avoid the problems and costs of collecting display tax and also detecting banners for which display tax had not been paid. |
| KMC asked the advertising agencies Sanskriti and Artage to manage this process. |
| Puja committees were not charged anything this year for non-commercial displays around pandals that conveyed information like 'puja' timings and arrangements. |
| Major Durga Puja advertisers in past years were usually telecom and hosiery goods companies. |
| Following the Rizwanur-Todi controversy, the Ashok Todi-owned Lux Cozi group did not go in for outdoor advertising during Durga Puja this year. |
| "Moreover, brands like Rupa did not advertise, while Dollar did not advertise even half of what it did last year during Pujas," Thakur said. |
| According to Thakur, other telecom companies stayed away. |
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