CCPA fines Vajiram & Ravi Rs 7 lakh over misleading UPSC success claims

NEW DELHI: In a move aimed at bringing greater transparency to India’s booming coaching industry, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 7 lakh on Vajiram & Ravi IAS Study Centre LLP for allegedly misleading students through its advertising around UPSC Civil Services Examination results.

The consumer watchdog found that the institute prominently showcased successful UPSC candidates in its promotional campaigns while failing to disclose the specific courses those candidates had actually attended.

The order was passed by the CCPA under the leadership of Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra. According to the authority, the institute’s advertisements created the impression that several top-ranking candidates were products of its comprehensive coaching programmes when, in reality, many had only participated in a short-duration Interview Guidance Programme (IGP).

The regulator examined claims made by the institute following the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2023 results, including advertisements stating that “8 Rank Holders in the Top 10 are from Vajiram & Ravi” and “37 Rank Holders in the Top 50 are from Vajiram & Ravi”. The institute also claimed that more than 30 per cent of officers selected through the UPSC examination every year were its students.

However, the CCPA’s investigation found that seven of the eight candidates featured among the top 10 rank holders had only enrolled in the free Interview Guidance Programme. Similarly, 29 of the 37 candidates highlighted among the top 50 rank holders had participated solely in the same programme.

The authority noted that the Interview Guidance Programme begins only after candidates have independently cleared both the Preliminary and Mains stages of the highly competitive UPSC examination. By featuring these candidates alongside advertisements for paid coaching programmes without clarifying the nature of their association, the institute gave prospective students a potentially misleading picture of its role in their success, the watchdog said.

The regulator also reviewed the institute’s claims across multiple years and found a similar pattern. According to the findings, 86.36 per cent of candidates associated with the institute in 2021, 78.31 per cent in 2022, 97.56 per cent in 2023 and 71.69 per cent in 2024 had only attended the Interview Guidance Programme. These details, the authority said, were omitted from promotional materials.

The CCPA held that such omissions amounted to the deliberate concealment of material information and therefore constituted a misleading advertisement under Section 2(28)(iv) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. It further noted that the advertisements violated consumers’ right to be informed, a key protection guaranteed under the law.

According to the watchdog, students and parents rely heavily on coaching institutes’ success claims while making decisions about expensive educational programmes. Failing to disclose whether successful candidates attended full classroom courses, test series, optional subject coaching or only a short interview programme can significantly influence those decisions.

The action against Vajiram & Ravi is part of a wider crackdown on misleading claims in the coaching sector. The CCPA said it has issued more than 60 notices to coaching institutes over misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices. So far, penalties exceeding Rs 1.46 crore have been imposed on institutes preparing students for examinations including UPSC, IIT-JEE, NEET, RBI and other competitive tests.

The latest order sends a clear message that success stories may be good marketing, but they must come with the full picture. For coaching institutes, transparency is no longer optional; it is becoming a regulatory requirement.