CCPA slaps Rs 3 Lakh fine on Vision IAS for misleading UPSC CSE 2020 ad

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has fined Vision IAS Rs 3 lakh for publishing misleading advertisements related to its success rate in the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2020. The penalty comes as part of the CCPA’s efforts to uphold consumer rights and ensure that advertisements do not deceive or mislead the public, in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Vision IAS had run an advertisement claiming, “10 in Top 10 selections in CSE 2020 from various programs of Vision IAS.” However, the CCPA found that the advertisement failed to disclose critical details about the courses chosen by the successful candidates. While the ad featured the names and photographs of the top-ranking candidates, it did not specify which particular Vision IAS courses they had enrolled in. This omission led to a misleading assumption that all the candidates had attended the "GS Foundation Batch Classroom Student" course, which was not the case.

An investigation revealed that while the candidate who secured Rank 1 had enrolled in the Foundation course, the remaining successful candidates had taken a range of different courses, including Prelims and Mains Test Series, as well as the Abhyaas test series for mock exams. These courses were significantly less expensive than the Foundation course. The Foundation course, for instance, costs Rs 1,40,000, while the Abhyaas test series is priced at just Rs 750.

The CCPA determined that by not disclosing the specific courses attended by each candidate, Vision IAS created a false narrative that all the top performers had succeeded through the same, expensive course. This omission misled potential students into believing the success rates were the same across all programs, a deceptive practice that could influence students’ decision-making.

In response to this, the CCPA has taken a firm stance, emphasizing that such misleading advertisements undermine consumer trust and make it difficult for students to make informed choices about which courses to pursue. This action is part of the CCPA’s broader campaign against unfair trade practices in the education sector. To date, the CCPA has issued notices to 46 coaching institutes for similar violations and imposed a total penalty of Rs 74.6 lakh on 23 institutes.