Digital
ASCI’s draft guidelines ensure honest environmental ads
Mumbai: The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), has proposed draft guidelines for environmental claims in advertising. The draft guidelines are open for public feedback until 31 December 2023, post which they will be finalised. Developed by a multi-stakeholder task force, including environmental experts, these guidelines aim to ensure that advertisements are free from greenwashing practices. The draft guidelines establish a clear framework for advertisers to present truthful and evidence-based environmental claims.
Environmental claims include claims that suggest or create an impression that a product or a service has a neutral or positive impact on the environment, is less damaging to the environment than a previous version of the same product or service or a competitive product, or has specific environmental benefits.
Environmental/Green claims can be explicit or implicit. They can appear in advertisements, marketing material, branding (including business and trading names), on packaging or in other information provided to consumers.
The draft guidelines target greenwashing – the deceptive practice of making misleading environmental claims. ASCI emphasizes the paramount importance of substantiated, comparable, and verifiable claims to combat misinformation. In its ad-surveillance ASCI has found that several terms are loosely used to communicate environmental benefits, giving an impression that the product is greener than it actually is.
Notable Industry experts have given their opinion regarding these guidelines.
Edited excerpts
Leads Brand Connect managing director Richa Khandelwal
ASCI guidelines on the environment are a powerful tool in promoting sustainable advertising practices. By adhering to these guidelines, brands can demonstrate their commitment to protecting our planet and inspire positive change. It’s all about creating advertisements that are not only impactful but also mindful of their environmental footprint. We embrace ASCI drafted guidelines to foster more responsible advertising where thoughtful creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.
Digital
Sarvam AI launches Indus, India’s sovereign AI app
Government-backed beta brings 105B model to users
BENGALURU: India’s sovereign AI ambitions have moved from white papers to working product. Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI, founded by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, has opened limited beta access to Indus, a new conversational interface powered by its 105-billion-parameter sovereign model. The launch follows the company’s selection under the Government of India’s IndiaAI Mission to build a home-grown large language model.
For Sarvam, Indus is more than an app. It is proof of concept.
The company says its 105B model is smaller than the frontier systems that power global consumer chat platforms. That is by design. For now, the focus is on accuracy, efficiency and alignment with Indian contexts before scaling to larger foundational models. In other words, build steady, then build big.
True AI sovereignty, Sarvam argues, means owning the full stack. The first step was training foundational models from scratch in India. Indus is the next, giving India control over the data and interface layers as well.
Backed by the Centre, the project is positioned as part of the broader Atmanirbhar Bharat push. In a post on X, Sarvam said it is proud to have been selected to build India’s sovereign large language model, fluent in Indian languages, voice-enabled, capable of reasoning and ready for secure, population-scale deployment. The company thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials for their support.
Co-founder Pratyush Kumar struck a more rallying note. India, he wrote, must be a builder and not merely a consumer in this defining era of technology. Strategic autonomy starts now.
Indus is currently available in beta on iOS, Android and the web. Users can ask questions via text or voice and receive responses in both formats. Sign-in options include phone number, Google, Microsoft and Apple accounts. For now, access appears restricted to India.
There are early-stage wrinkles. Users cannot delete chat history without deleting their account. The reasoning feature cannot be switched off, which may slow responses at times. Compute capacity is limited, so new users may encounter a waitlist as access is gradually expanded.
Sarvam has made it clear that this is a work in progress. The company describes itself as being in listen mode, inviting feedback from developers, researchers, creators and everyday users. If sovereign AI is to mean anything, it says, it must be built with the country, not just for it.
The message is simple. Try Indus. Say what works. Say what does not. In the race for artificial intelligence, India is signalling it does not want to merely download the future. It wants to write it.
