To boost its ‘own-source’ revenue, the Greater Chennai Corporation has revived a citywide advertising project after six months across over 1,400 locations, expecting a total turnover of ₹108 crore.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G.S. Sameeran, in an interview with The Hindu, had mentioned that the civic body, “... will be concentrating on the GCC’s own-source revenues and new revenue-generating mechanisms such as advertisements, and there are upcoming Public-Private Partnership projects in the pipeline. Apart from this, outsourcing bus bays and identifying unassessed or under-assessed properties will also be pursued to sustain the local body’s expenditure.”

In December 2025, the GCC floated tenders expecting a turnover of ₹75 crore via this project.

The project planned this year includes 35 bus bays with a total advertising area of 1,691 sq. m, 12,219 streetlight poles on bus-route roads with a combined display area of 34,267 sq. m, 1,534 parks with 52,437 sq. m of display space, and 614 other streetlight poles with an overall display size of 1,223 sq. m, according to GCC officials.

It also covers advertising rights on the Mambalam-T. Nagar skywalk and the new steel bridge in T. Nagar. In addition, advertisements have been proposed in shopping complexes, community halls, community centres, playgrounds, and sports facilities across Chennai. The concessionaire will be allowed to use up to 90% of the approved advertising area commercially, while the remaining would be reserved for the GCC’s public messages, officials added.

The permitted licensed advertisers concessionaire must design, install, operate, and maintain the advertising infrastructure at their own cost and restore the facility in good condition at the end of the concession period.

Penalties for damages – from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000 a day – could be imposed for lapses such as damaged advertising displays, electrical faults, unauthorised content, safety violations, failure to remove graffiti or debris, and non-compliance with the GCC’s instructions.