The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of ₹8 lakh on Narayana Educational Institutions for issuing misleading advertisements about students who secured high ranks in the JEE Advanced 2024 examination.
The order was passed on June 11 by a Bench comprising CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra. The proceedings were initiated suo motu after the authority examined promotional claims made by the educational institution.
The advertisements appeared on Narayana’s website, social media accounts and in newspapers, including The Times of India. They prominently displayed the names, photographs and ranks of successful candidates to promote the institute’s coaching services.
However, the CCPA found that the promotions did not clearly state the courses or programmes in which the featured students had enrolled. The missing information could create an impression that every successful student had attended the institute’s regular classroom coaching programme.
“The advertisement is false and misleading inasmuch as it deliberately conceals important information regarding the courses opted for by the successful candidates… thereby misleads prospective consumers regarding the nature, scope, and quality of the Institute’s services,” the authority observed.
According to the regulator, students may have been enrolled in different programmes, including regular classroom coaching, distance learning or short-term courses. The advertisements did not make these distinctions clear while presenting their examination results.
The CCPA also raised concerns over the use of ranking claims such as “AIR 1”. It found that the advertisements did not adequately explain the category or classification to which such ranks belonged, making the claims unclear for prospective students and parents.
Narayana Educational Institutions argued that complete details could not be included because of limited advertising space. The authority rejected this explanation, observing that considerable space had been used to highlight ranks, photographs and promotional claims.
“The contention that course details could not be disclosed due to ‘space constraints’ is untenable. This selective allocation of advertising space is indicative of a deliberate omission,” the CCPA stated.
The authority further noted that adequate disclosures were missing even from online advertisements, where space limitations did not apply. In some promotions, relevant information was displayed in very small text that consumers could easily overlook.
The CCPA emphasised that advertisements concerning competitive examinations can influence the decisions of lakhs of students and parents. Educational institutions must, therefore, provide accurate and transparent information while promoting examination results and coaching services.
Narayana has been directed to immediately withdraw the misleading advertisements and submit a compliance report within 15 days. Future advertisements must provide complete disclosures, while disclaimers must be as prominent and readable as the main claims, in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
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