The historic Press & Registration of Periodicals Act (PRPA), 2023, came into force on March 1, 2024, after the Government of India notified it, and the Rules under it, in the official Gazette. The PRPA mandates the Press Registrar General to allot titles and register periodicals containing public news or comments on public news. Books and journals, including academic and those on science and technology, do not fall under the purview of PRPA.

This Act replaces the colonial era statute, called the Press and Registration of Books Act (PRB), 1867, which formulated the duties and functions of the office of the Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI). With the change in the Act, the nomenclature of RNI has also changed, and we are now known as the Press Registrar General of India (PRGI).  

The PRB Act necessitated the involvement of multiple offices of the State and the Central Governments, and was not in sync with the changing media landscape. The new mode of governance, with its emphasis on facilitating faster and easier access to citizens, required a new Act.  

The PRPA, 2023, makes the process of allotment of titles and registration of periodicals simple and simultaneous, through an online system, doing away with the need for physical interface. This enables PRGI to fast-track the process, thereby, making it easier for publishers to start a periodical

Upholding the importance of a free media, the new Act has substantially decriminalized procedural irregularities on the part of publishers, and removed imprisonment provisions for minor violations of the Act. The Act is, therefore, a testimony to the Government’s efforts to remove obsolete and restrictive regulations for news periodicals. With its emphasis on faster and efficient services through the use of digital technology, the Act is bound to enhance the ease of doing newspaper business.