The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a federal regulator, has imposed a fine of ₹3 lakh to Sriram IAS, which trains candidates for the civil services exam, for misleading and exaggerated claims in its advertisements, according to CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare.
Khare, who is also the Union consumer affairs secretary, and commissioner Anupam Mishra imposed the penalty after a CCPA investigation found that the training institute had violated the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which prohibits misleading, deceptive or false advertising that is detrimental to consumers, along with concealment of facts.
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Sriram IAS was investigated for two claims. First, the institute had announced that it had secured “200+ selections in the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2022.” Second, its advertisements carried the tagline: “We are India’s No. 1 and prestigious UPSC/IAS training institute.”
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In January, the CCPA had issued a set of guidelines for commercial training institutes, making it a crime to make any kind of guaranteed claims, such as selection for “prelims” or guaranteed rankings and scores, among other rules, related to advertisements.
Fierce competition for engineering or medical jobs and exaggerated guarantees of success in civil service exams often push aspirants into mental trauma and even suicide, one of the main reasons why the government sought to tighten norms. The emergence of coaching institutes and their operations sparked a huge controversy when three students drowned after their illegal basement classroom was flooded following a downpour in Delhi on July 28.
“Sriram IAS announced various types of courses, but the information regarding the course chosen by the successful candidates announced in the above mentioned UPSC Civil Services Examination Results was deliberately concealed in the advertisement,” the CCPA ruled.
In other words, the courses chosen by successful candidates were not disclosed, which had the effect of making aspirants believe that all the paid courses advertised were specifically those chosen by those who had passed the exam. There was also no empirical evidence to establish that Sriram IAS was the “No. 1” institute.
HT contacted Sriram’s IAS over phone and email for a response, which remained unanswered by the time of going to press.
As for the number of successful candidates, Sriram’s response to the IAS included details of 171 successful candidates against his claim of over 200 selected in the UPSC CSE 2022, the CCPA said. Most of the candidates listed as successful had already cleared the preliminary and mains examination without “any input” from Sriram’s IAS, the CCPA investigation found.
Of these 171 candidates, 102 were from a free interview counseling program, 55 from a free test series, nine from a classroom-based general studies course, and five candidates were from different states under memoranda of understanding signed with state governments and the Institute to provide free counseling. “This fact was not disclosed in its advertising, thereby deceiving consumers,” the CCPA ruling stated.
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