Screen ka-ching: Will digital be the death of the salesman - ISTOCK.COM× A peek into where ad spends went last year and where they are headed tomorrow Till the eve of the lockdown, India was close to $2.94 trillion in size and trotting towards the $5-trillion glory. As the pandemic has dragged us back by over one-fifth of our economic size, questions arise on what would drive the economy towards green pastures. The advertising industry is the health barometer of any growing economy as it promotes what is manufactured and marketed. Once sold, this consumption drives the economy. For a prospering economy, the benchmark of advertising expenditures would be 1 per cent or above of the country’s gross domestic product or GDP. In India, it is way below — at ₹82,904 crore in 2019-20, that’s under 0.3 per cent.