India's ad to GDP: Stuck at 0.4%

“Ad mkt to GDP ratio in India among the lowest in the world”, screamed the headline featuring an interview of Sanjay Gupta of Google India (Business Standard, October 20, 2023). In his interview, Gupta mentioned that the ad market in India was only a miniscule 0.4 per cent of the country’s GDP, lagging even many of our Asian neighbours. From what I can recall, the number of 0.4 per cent has not changed in the last three decades. Why is the ratio low? What could be the underlying causes?

For one, Indian television advertising rates are among the lowest in