MAM
Publicis drags CCI to court over access to files in ad cartel probe
MUMBAI: Reuters has reported that Publicis has hauled India’s antitrust regulator to the Delhi high court, accusing it of stonewalling requests for access to case files in a high-stakes price-fixing investigation that has rattled the country’s $30bn media and entertainment sector.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) stunned the industry in March with dawn raids on WPP’s GroupM, Dentsu, Publicis, Omnicom and others, probing suspected collusion on publicity rates and discounts. Sources told Reuters the CCI’s early findings suggest the firms coordinated via a WhatsApp group, struck secret deals, and teamed up with broadcasters to freeze out agencies that refused to play along.
Triggered by Dentsu’s whistle-blowing under the CCI’s leniency scheme in February 2024, the probe could see penalties of up to three times profit or 10 per cent of global turnover for each year of wrongdoing. Publicis, which operates through TLG India, says it cannot prepare a defence without access to the records, and wants the CCI to pause its investigation until the files are handed over.
The watchdog has yet to comment. The court is expected to hear the case next week.
Brands
IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
