With the ad industry under regulatory scrutiny, Dentsu opts for collaboration over confrontation

Earlier this year, the advertising and media services industry came under sharp regulatory scrutiny as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched sweeping raids on several major media agency networks, including WPP’s GroupM (now rechristened WPP Media), Publicis Groupe, IPG, Omnicom and Dentsu, over alleged anti-competitive practices.

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The raids, which began in early March 2025, included overnight searches across offices in Delhi and Mumbai, and stemmed from a years-long investigation into alleged bid-rigging, cartelization and unfair trade practices involving media buying and planning services. While formal charges have yet to be filed, the CCI has reportedly been analyzing bulk discounting practices, non-transparent fee structures and exclusivity agreements with large broadcasters and publishers.

The industry response has ranged from guarded silence to assertive denials. But Dentsu, one of the agencies named in the probe and the alleged 'whistleblower', has taken a deliberately quiet, collaborative approach.

“We are collaborating with everyone as much as we can,” said Harsha Razdan, CEO of Dentsu South Asia, in an exclusive interview with Storyboard18's Delshad Irani, when asked about the regulatory scrutiny the industry's facing. “We hope for the betterment of the industry, and that we are all able to come together to make it a much more thriving industry.”

The company has kept a low external profile in the weeks following the raids, consistent with its internal philosophy. “Dentsu’s leadership philosophy, and our global CEO’s as well, is about humble confidence,” Razdan said. “You don’t have to go around shouting that you’ve done a great job even before the job has started,” said Razdan about Dentsu's on-going turnaround.

Still, Dentsu is signaling a willingness to step up more visibly in shaping the future of the country's $12-billion advertising economy, one that now faces both technological disruption and regulatory overhauls.

“We are not going to shy away from things that can improve the industry,” Razdan said. “We are a part of it, and we want to make it better, not just for us, but for all stakeholders.”

The CCI’s inquiry is part of a broader recalibration within the media ecosystem. With the growth of digital platforms and influencer networks, traditional agencies face increasing pressure from both clients and regulators to operate with greater transparency and outcome-driven models.

Razdan acknowledged that CMOs today are under more pressure than ever, particularly as measurement systems evolve and legacy contracts come under scrutiny. “Answers for a CMO are not going to be easy,” he said. “They’ve never been more difficult.”

Rather than retreat or issue blanket denials, Dentsu is leaning into dialogue, with industry bodies, regulators and clients, to build what Razdan calls a “good balance of innovation and safety.”

“We will continue to participate and collaborate with regulators and the industry,” he said.

Whether that approach is enough to shield Dentsu from potential repercussions remains to be seen. But for now, the company is betting that calm and quiet credibility may go further than loud spin.