AD Agencies
CCPA fines coaching institute Rs 11 lakh for misleading ads UPSC results
DELHI: India’s consumer watchdog has turned the screws on the coaching industry. The Central Consumer Protection Authority has imposed a Rs 11 lakh penalty on Vision IAS for publishing misleading advertisements on UPSC Civil Services Examination results, marking the **first case of a repeat offence** under the Consumer Protection Act.
The CCPA found that Vision IAS, registered as AjayVision Education Pvt Ltd, made exaggerated claims in its advertising, prominently flashing lines such as “7 in Top 10 and 79 in Top 100 selections in CSE 2023” and “39 in Top 50 selections in CSE 2022”, complete with photographs, names and ranks of successful candidates. What the ads failed to disclose was more telling: most of those candidates were never enrolled in the institute’s flagship, high-priced foundation courses.
“This is the first case of penalty on the second offence,” said Nidhi Khare, chief commissioner of the CCPA and consumer affairs secretary, noting that the institute continued to make similar claims despite earlier regulatory intervention. The authority said this showed a clear lack of due diligence and regulatory compliance.
An investigation revealed that of more than 119 successful candidates claimed by Vision IAS across UPSC CSE 2022 and 2023, only three had taken foundation courses. The remaining 116 had opted for limited offerings such as test series, one-time Abhyaas tests or mock interview programmes. Yet the advertising created the impression that all featured toppers were products of its premium classroom coaching.
The CCPA pointed out that while the institute disclosed that Shubham Kumar, AIR 1 in UPSC CSE 2020, was a foundation course student, it deliberately withheld similar information for other candidates showcased alongside him. This selective disclosure, the authority said, misled aspirants and parents into believing the institute was responsible for success across all stages of the exam.
Calling the violation recurring, the CCPA treated it as a subsequent contravention under the law, justifying a higher penalty. It also flagged the heightened impact of digital advertising, noting that websites remain globally accessible for long periods and are a primary research tool for aspirants.
So far, the watchdog has issued 57 notices to coaching institutes for misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices, imposing penalties totalling Rs 1.09 crore on 28 of them. The message is sharpening: in India’s hyper-competitive exam economy, inflated claims and half-truths will no longer pass.
Note: The cover image provided is AI–generated and is used for representational purposes only.
AD Agencies
Publicis Brazil’s creative chief Mauro Ramalho lands the jury chair at Abby Awards 2026
Mauro Ramalho brings 25 years of global advertising firepower to the new creative commerce, use of data and B2B category at Goafest
GOA: The Abby Awards 2026, powered by The One Club and The One Show, has appointed Mauro Ramalho, chief creative officer of Publicis Brazil, as jury chair for its newly launched creative commerce, use of data and B2B category. The announcement, made on 18 March, signals the awards’ intent to bring serious international muscle to a category that sits squarely at the intersection of creativity and commercial performance.
Ramalho is not a name that needs much introduction in global advertising circles. Over 25 years spanning three countries, he has worked at some of the industry’s most creatively restless addresses. At AKQA in San Francisco, he worked across McDonald’s, Nike, Fox, Target, Kraft Foods and GAP, and helped lead “The Lost Ring” for McDonald’s, one of the first alternate reality campaigns and among the most awarded projects of its era. He later moved to Organic in Toronto, bridging the Detroit and Toronto offices on Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, before spending over a decade building CUBOCC into one of Brazil’s most iconic and innovative independent agencies, which subsequently joined the IPG network.
A stint at FCB followed, where Ramalho led integrated work bridging online and offline, before he joined R/GA São Paulo as vice-president and executive creative director, stitching together the São Paulo office with New York, London, Portland and California on global clients including Verizon, Google, Meta, Samsung, American Express and Heineken. He now heads Publicis Brazil as its chief creative officer.
His trophy cabinet includes Clios, Effies, TikTok awards and MMA Smarties, and he has served on juries at the Andys, TikTok and the Lisbon Awards.
The Abby Awards 2026 is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2026 on 20, 21 and 22 May in Goa.
For Indian advertising, landing a jury chair of Ramalho’s calibre for a category built around data-driven creativity and commerce is a statement of ambition. Goafest just raised its own bar.
