Roadside ad space increases, zone-based rules for bidders introduced

Bengaluru’s advertising landscape is set for a major overhaul, with the State government releasing a new draft that increases the volume of advertising permitted along the city’s roads. The draft will introduce a stricter zone-based system, and standardise how rights are assigned to bidders for every road, circle and notified stretch. 

In the revised draft, the government has allowed more advertising space on most Bengaluru roads. Earlier, rules had fixed lower limits—for example, 800 sq. ft of ads were allowed for every 200 m on 18 to 24 m roads, 1,000 sq. ft on 24–30 m roads, 1,100 sq. ft on 30–60 m roads and 1,200 sq. ft on the widest roads. The new draft increases these to 1,000 sq. ft, 1,200 sq. ft, 1,500 sq. ft and 1,600 sq. ft respectively. A major earlier restriction, a cap on how long the ads could be horizontally, has now been completely removed. The new draft does away with previous layout restrictions that controlled how ads could be arranged. 

The new draft also revises how much advertisers must pay per sq. ft. Earlier, low-value stretches started at ₹50 per sq. ft (for ₹3000 per sq. ft.) and the rates climbed up to ₹90 (₹40000 per sq. ft.) for the highest-value areas. In the new draft, the starting band now begins at ₹45 (₹4000 per sq. ft), and the highest band tops out at ₹75 (₹25000 per sq. ft). 

The draft retains the basic rule that the bidder who wins rights for any road stretch, circle or area can put up advertisements anywhere within that zone on behalf of clients. However, the rules governing private properties have been rewritten. Previously, the erstwhile BBMP bylaws imposed steep penalties on B-Register properties and sites without Khata, including double additional property tax, and in some cases full property tax plus double penalty until a Khata was obtained.

The new draft removes these clauses and said that no commercial advertisement can be put up on any property that does not have a valid Khata, unless the owner first converts it to an A-Khata in accordance with the law. The corporation will continue to have the power to immediately remove hoardings on properties without Khata or those missing from the property-tax register. 

The rules also clarify that paying advertisement fees to the corporation does not give advertisers any right to enter or use private or government property on their own, permissions and commercial terms must be independently negotiated with each property owner. These payments to property owners are separate from the advertisement fees owed to the corporation. 

The draft also redefines how advertisements inside government-owned premises will be handled. Earlier, railways, BMRCL, KSRTC, BMTC, and PSUs retained revenue from ads inside their campuses, and certain metro-related revenues were shared between BBMP and BMRCL. The new draft continues to let these agencies tender and retain income from advertisements inside their facilities, but removes the cross-sharing arrangements. Metro pillars, stations and all other BMRCL structures remain fully outside the bidder’s rights even if they fall within the bidder’s assigned stretch, and BMRCL will tender these separately.