India’s National Election Spreads Billions Around

India’s monthlong nationwide election is often called the world’s largest exercise in democracy. It could also be regarded as a big economic stimulus engine.

Candidates and parties spent $3 billion on everything, including transportation, advertising, celebrity endorsements and cash bribes over the course of the campaign, according to economists and political analysts. In comparison, the last United States presidential campaign cost an estimated $2.4 billion.

The campaign, which will wrap up Saturday with a final tally of the votes, is trickling through the economy and plumping earnings at television stations, advertising agencies, florists, airlines, car companies and gas stations. It is adding to the business for sweets manufacturers, priests and astrologers.

The programs are so extensive that the amount of money spent in India will give a 0.5 percent boost to the country’s gross domestic product for two quarters of this year, says Kotak Securities, a brokerage firm.

“Every candidate spent money on pujas and rituals,” said K. N. Somayaji, an astrologer and Brahman priest in Bangalore. He says more than 200 candidates called him for his services, which include invoking Kali, the goddess of victory. The most elaborate ritual he performed during this election involved 350 priests from Kerala and cost more than $300,000, he said.

The staid industries actually sop up most of the campaign spending. Air travel and advertising make up the biggest expenses, said Amitabh Sinha, the national convenor (a sort of campaign manager) for the Bhartiya Janta Party.

Air time for television ads in particular has risen nearly 1,500 percent since the last election, according to Tam Media Research, as a result of the proliferation of televisions into the rural hinterlands. “Television is one of the best ways to communicate with the masses in an easy way,” Mr. Sinha said.

Candidates are also relying on newer technology to get in touch with the 700 million eligible voters. Many of the 400 million cellphone owners in India could hardly go a day without receiving several text messages like “I Jagat Singh Chauhan promise you to fulfill all commitment of better society and development!”

Text message volume is up 20 to 25 percent at Tata Teleservices, said Rohit Gupta, an associate vice president for the company. Revenue has increased several million rupees a month, he said. Political candidates buy messages in bulk, paying lower rates than individual consumers do, either through the phone company or a third-party broker.

“The move to digital media is increasing day by day,” Mr. Gupta said, because “you are connecting directly with the customer.”

Printing companies have been suffering this year. The country’s election commission has banned the hanging of posters and election materials in public places without permission, so candidates are ordering less.

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