India’s Union Cabinet has approved the process for e-auctioning 683 FM radio channels in 236 cities in the third batch of Phase III of private FM radio expansion, according to a government statement.

Batch-I and Batch-II auctions of private FM radio channels under Phase-III of the FM Policy Guidelines were held in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

97 channels in 56 cities were sold in Batch-I, and 66 channels in 48 cities were sold in Batch-II.

The latest auction will complete the coverage of private FM radio broadcasting across all 29 states and six out of seven Union Territories – with the exception of Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

The government said this will also to generate direct and indirect employment to more than 10,000 persons on a pan India basis, and yield an estimated revenue of more than Rs 11 billion ($171.82).

In order to ensure transparency in the auction process, the government said it will follow the Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) process.