D. Shivakumar of Aditya Birla Group elected as the new Chairman of ASCI

At the board meeting of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) held , D. Shivakumar, Group Executive President, Corporate Strategy at Aditya Birla Group was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Board of ASCI.

As the member of the Board of Governors for three years, supporting self-regulation, Mr. Shivakumar is an accomplished business leader having spent over 19 years in sales, marketing and general management positions across consumer products and the luxury industry.

Mr. Rohit Gupta, President - Network Sales & International Business, Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd, was elected as the Vice-Chairman and Mr. Shashidhar Sinha, CEO, Media Brands Pvt Ltd, was re-appointed as the Honorary Treasurer.

Members of the Board of Governors include; Mr. Harish Bhat (Director, Tata Global Beverages Ltd.), Mr Subhash Kamath (Managing Partner, BBH Communications India Pvt Ltd), Mr. Sandeep Kohli (Executive Director & Vice President for Personal Care Hindustan Unilever Ltd), Prof S.K. Palekar (Adjunct Professor & Advisor – Executive Education Institute of Management Technology), Mr. N.S. Rajan (Managing Director, Ketchum Sampark Pvt Ltd), Mr. K.V. Sridhar (Founder & Chief Creative Officer (Director), Hyper Collective Creative Technologies Pvt Ltd), Ms. Abanti Sankaranarayanan (Former Vice Chairperson, CIABC), Mr. Girish Agarwal (Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group), Mr. Madhusudan Gopalan (CEO, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd.), Mr. Prasun Basu (President - South Asia Nielsen (India) Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. Sivakumar Sundaram (President- Revenue Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd), Mr. Vikas Agnihotri (Director Sales, Google India Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. Umesh Shrikhande (CEO, Taproot India Comm. P. Ltd.).

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Ms. Abanti Sankaranarayanan, the outgoing Chairman, ASCI, said, “2017-18 has been another strong year for ASCI as we have made significant advancements towards building our organizational muscle, external credibility and strong collaborations. Our stringent guidelines, seamless processes and the dedication and hardwork of our Consumer Complaints Council have contributed to restricting the use of misleading advertisements and enhance self regulation. ASCI’s momentous achievements for the year include successful completion of three year-long collaboration with Department of Consumer Affairs, renewal of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Food Safety Standards Authority of India, introduction of “Guidelines for Celebrities in Advertising” and inclusion in AYUSH’s Empowered Committee to control misleading ads of AYUSH drugs. As the Chairman for ASCI for the year 2017-18.

I am extremely proud to be a part of this journey and I am confident that under Shivakumar’s Chairmanship ASCI will continue to grow swiftly and steadily.”

The incoming Chairman, Mr. D. Shivakumar, said, “I want to thank Abanti for her stewardship. We live in changing times with respect to information, media and trust of society. ASCI has been built on the foundation of self-regulation and the wisdom of the previous chairmen and the board. It’s my privilege to do the role now”.

The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) established by ASCI is an independent body (majority of its members drawn from civil society members like consumer activists, lawyers, doctors, educationists), the CCC met 47 times during the year and deliberated on complaints against 2641 advertisements. Complaints against 1177 advertisements were upheld, while for 483 they were not upheld. The significant increase in the number of complaints as compared to 2016-17 numbers (2300) is largely due to ASCI’s Suo Moto Monitoring project viz. National Advertisement Monitoring Services (NAMS). The Independent Review Process (IRP) received a very favourable response and 30 IRPs were conducted during this year.