Shantanu Khosla replaces Ram Poddar as new ASCI Chairman

Shantanu Khosla, MD, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care, was unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Bhaskar Das, Executive President, BCCL, was elected Vice-Chairman.

by Noor Fathima Warsia
Published: Sep 16, 2006 8:58 AM | 1 min read

Shantanu Khosla replaces Ram Poddar as new ASCI Chairman

At the board meeting held on September 14, 2006, Shantanu Khosla, Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd., was unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Bhaskar Das, Executive President, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., was elected Vice-Chairman, and Rajiv Dube, President (Passenger Car Business Unit), Tata Motors, was reappointed as Honorary Treasurer.

The other members of the new Board of Governors are:

Advertisers: Vinita Bali (Britannia Industries), Nitin Paranjpe (Hindustan Lever), Media: Vikram Kaushik (Tata Sky), G. Krishnan (TV Today), I. Venkat (Ushodaya Publication - Eenadu).

Ad. Agencies: Madhukar Kamath, (Mudra), Pranesh Misra (Lintas), Arvind Sharma (Leo Burnett), Srinivasan Swamy (RK Swamy BBDO).

Allied Professions: Dilip Cherian (Perfect Relations), Dhananjay Keskar (ICFAI Business School), Ram Poddar (The Tobacco Institute of India), Partha Rakshit (AC Nielsen Research Services).

During 2005-06, the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) deliberated on 117 complaints against ads, of which 67 were upheld. In 52 cases, the ads were withdrawn or modified appropriately. It is noteworthy that 71 per cent of advertisers who complied are not members of ASCI.