The Central Consumer Protection Authority (“CCPA”) has issued Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024 (“Guidelines”)[1] on November 13, 2024. The Guidelines are introduced to address the issue of misleading advertisements, including deliberate concealment of important information and false guarantees, i.e., practices plaguing the coaching industry.
What is Coaching?
The Guidelines define coaching to mean any “academic support, imparting education, guidance, instructions, study programmes or tuition or any other activity of similar nature”.[2] However, coaching does not include “counselling, sports, dance, theatre, and other creative activities”.[3]
Further, a coaching centre is defined to mean a “centre, established, run or, administered by any person for providing coaching to more than fifty students”.[4]
These definitions are in sync with the Guidelines For Regulation of Coaching Centre (“Coaching Centre Guidelines”), issued by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, in January this year.[5]
Thus, the Guidelines may not apply to centres that do not offer “coaching”, or coach fewer than 50 (fifty) students at a centre.
Applicability of the Guidelines
The Guidelines are applicable to all forms of coaching-related advertisements.
An advertisement, as per the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (“CPA, 2019”), is:[6]
- any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement;
- made by different means, such as print, electronic media, internet, website, light, sound, smoke, gas; and
- includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or such other documents.
These advertisements can be given by:[7]
- Any person, which is inter alia, any individual, firm, company, body corporate, association of persons;[8] and
- Endorser, which is any individual, group, or institution endorsing goods, products or service in an advertisement, whose opinion, belief, finding or experience is the message that the advertisement appears to reflect.[9]
What do the Guidelines Mandate?
| Do’s | Don’ts |
| Transparency and disclosure: All important information such as rank, name, and duration of the course must be disclosed with the candidate’s photograph in the advertisement. Advertisement must clearly state if the course was paid for by the student. | Transparency and disclosure: Disclaimer and the claim cannot be in different fonts. |
| Prominent display of disclaimers: Disclaimers and other important information such as rank, name, duration of the course must be displayed prominently in the advertisement. | Consent of the candidate: Name, photographs, testimonials, or videos of successful candidate cannot be used without the written consent of such candidate. Consent has to be obtained subsequent to selection. |
| Truthful representation: Coaching centres must truthfully represent that the course offered has the recognition and approval of All India Council for Technical Education, Universities Grants Commission, etc., (if such recognition and approval is required). | |
| Accurate reporting: Services, facilities, resources, and infrastructure of the coaching centre must be accurately reported in the advertisement. | |
| Convergence with National Consumer Helpline: Coaching centres must endeavour to become a partner in the convergence process of the National Consumer Helpline of the Central Government. |
The bright line – what will constitute a misleading advertisement?
The Guidelines classify misleading advertisements into three categories:
- false claim;
- false representation; and
- false sense of urgency.
Based on this categorisation, the Guidelines specify the particular claim, representation, and action, which shall constitute a misleading advertisement.
| Category | Can be in relation to: |
| False claim[10] | Course offeredDuration of completionCredential of facultyFeeCourse exit policy, including fee refundSelectionRank in examSuccess rate or success at different stages of examinationGuaranteed selectionJob promotionsSalary increaseAdmission to any institutionGood rank/high marks |
| False representation[11] | Services being of a particular standard or quality |
| False sense of urgency/scarcity[12] | Misleading a person into making an immediate purchase or taking immediate action |
Further, all conditions which generally constitute unfair trade practice[13] and misleading advertisement[14], under the CPA, 2019, also apply to misleading advertisements under the Guidelines as well.[15]
Consequence
The contravention of the Guidelines would lead to action under the provisions of the CPA, 2019.[16] Consequences for unfair trade practice or a violation of consumer rights for misleading advertisement under the CPA, 2019, can vary. The violators under CPA, 2019, may be asked to (i) discontinue the unfair trade practice; or (ii) withdraw the product or service from the market; or (iii) pay heavy penalties or even face imprisonment.
Conclusion
CCPA has the mandate to protect, promote, and enforce the rights of consumers in India. One of the key ways to enforce this mandate is to prevent “misleading advertisements”.
In 2022, CCPA had issued Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements (“Misleading Advertisement Guidelines, 2022”), which applied to all advertisements, regardless of form/ format/ or medium[17] and set out the over-arching conditions for misleading, bait, surrogate, free claims, and children targeted advertisements.[18]
However, CCPA has lately adopted a claim-and-sector specific approach to prevent misleading advertisements. As part of its claim specific approach, CCPA has issued guidelines to prevent “green washing/ or misleading environment claims” and “dark patterns”. CCPA has also issued sector-specific advisories in the past. In March 2024, CCPA issued an advisory to betting and gambling platforms to desist from engaging in misleading advertisements.
Coaching is an integral aspect of a student’s education journey in India today. While the conditions for an unfair trade practice and misleading advertisement under the CPA were of a general nature (e.g., false description of a product or service), with a view to protect student interest, the Guidelines contextualise these conditions with specific reference to practices in the coaching industry (e.g., a false claim specific to courses, selection, rank, etc).
The Guidelines are not the first step by the CCPA to control misleading advertisement in the sector. The CCPA has fined several coaching centres in the past under the CPA, 2019.[19]
Two other significant moves towards regulation of advertisements in coaching have come from the Ministry of Education and the Advertising and Standards Council of India (“ASCI”).
The Ministry of Education issued the Coaching Centre Guidelines in January 2024, which inter alia state that coaching centres that publish misleading advertisements (any claim about the quality of coaching, facilities, or results, or the enrolled students) will not be eligible for registration of the coaching centre.[20] The implementation of the Coaching Centre Guidelines, through a legal framework, has not been uniformly adopted by each State yet.[21]ASCI had also issued Guidelines for Advertising of Educational Institutions, Programmes and Platforms, to regulate advertisement practices of coaching classes, universities, colleges, schools, and ed-tech platforms.
With the notification of the Guidelines, coaching centres would now have to significantly assess and evaluate their current practices.
This could mean:
- Reviewing current student acquisition practices.
- Assessing what is promised to the students at the time of joining/ for the purpose of joining, and its permissibility.
- Re-visiting advertising and marketing practices.
- Content review of advertisements and promotional material.
- Re-working legal agreements and consent forms to ensure that agreements are fair, and written consent of successful candidates is taken subsequent to selection.
Although complying with the Guidelines may require some effort at this point, it will establish a trust-based, student-centric coaching centre ecosystem in the near future.
For further information, please contact:
Aarushi Jain, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
aarushi.j@cyrilshroff.com
[1] Press Release: Press Information Bureau.
[2] Clause 2(c) of the Guidelines
[3] Clause 2(c) of the Guidelines.
[4] Clause 2(d) of the Guidelines.
[5] Clauses 4(ii) and 4(iii) of the Coaching Centre Guidelines.
[6] Section 2(1) of the CPA, 2019.
[7] Clause 1(3) of the Guidelines.
[8] Clause 2(i) of the Guidelines read with Section 2(31) of the CPA, 2019.
[9] Clause 2(g) of the Guidelines read with Clause 2(f) of the Misleading Advertisement Guidelines 2022.
[10] Clauses 3(a), 3(b) and 3(c) of the Guidelines.
[11] Clause 3(d) of the Guidelines.
[12] Clause 3(e) of the Guidelines.
[13] Section 2(47) of the CPA, 2019.
[14] Section 2(28) of the CPA, 2019.
[15] Clause 3(f) of the Guidelines.
[16] Clause 7 of the Guidelines.
[17] Clause 3(a) of the Misleading Advertisement Guidelines, 2022.
[18] Clauses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of the Misleading Advertisement Guidelines, 2022.
[19] See CCPA orders imposing penalties on coaching centres: (1) checkuploaddocs.php; (2) checkuploaddocs.php; (3) checkuploaddocs.php; (4) checkuploaddocs.php; (5) checkuploaddocs.php; (6) checkuploaddocs.php; (7) checkuploaddocs.php; (8) checkuploaddocs.php; (9) checkuploaddocs.php; (10) checkuploaddocs.php.
[20] Clause 6(i)(d) of the Coaching Centre Guidelines.
[21] Pg., 3, Para 21 of the Coaching Centre Guidelines.
