MUMBAI: Information and Broadcasting Minister (I&B Ministry) Arun Jaitley today justified the failure to auction 38 FM Radio Channels in 22 cities in the recent e-auctions on the ground of “the demand - supply based market economics and bidder’s strategy”.

He told the Lok Sabha that out of 135 channels put for auction during first batch, no bid was received in 13 cities having 26 channels, and partial bids were received in nine cities with 12 channels remaining unsold.

However, he said the Ministry had received the full payment of Rs.1055.9 crore notified on 16 September by 1 October.

Against the cumulative reserve price of Rs.550.18 crore for 135 channels, the government received aggregate provisional commitment of Rs.1156.9 crore for 97 channels in 56 cities.

Out of 97 channels, 53 channels in 35 cities were sold at a premium over reserve price whereas 44 channels in 21 cities were sold at reserve price.

The Ministry had decided to conduct e-auction of FM Radio Channels in batches under the extant FM Phase-III Policy.

No irregularity has been reported during e-auction of first batch, he said.

The e-auction of the first batch of private FM radio phase-III comprising 135 channels in 69 Phase-II existing cities commenced on 27 July and was completed on 9 September after 125 rounds of bidding.

City wise successful bidders and associated frequency spots along with successful bid amount i.e. Non-Refundable One Time Entry Fee (NOTEF) under e-auction of first batch of private FM radio Phase-III channels were notified on 16 September.