
Consultancy director held for job scam in Telangana
HYDERABAD: The Telangana CID has arrested Saroj Shiswant Thorat, alias Saroj Bharath Kumar, director of Eagle Expert Immigration Consultancy, in connection with a widespread overseas job visa fraud that spanned several Indian states.
The case came to light following a complaint filed by Ch Kamalakar, a resident of Karimnagar, who alleged that a consultancy operating under the name 'Abroad Study Plan Overseas Educational Consultancy,' based in KPHB, Hyderabad, had defrauded him and his friend K Sunil of approximately Rs 8 lakh. The amount was collected under the pretext of securing guaranteed jobs in Malta. However, fake documents were provided and no jobs were arranged.
Based on this and two other similar complaints, cases were booked under Sections 420, 370(3), 406, 409, 419, 467, 471, 120-B of the IPC, and Section 24(1)(b)(g) of the Emigration Act, 1983. The case was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the CID, Telangana.
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Business Standard
38 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Shah to visit security camps, review anti-Naxal ops to Chhattisgarh
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Time of India
40 minutes ago
- Time of India
How the world's top ad agencies aligned to fix prices in India
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The attempt to woo the client violated the agencies' agreement, Omnicom Media's India CEO Kartik Sharma wrote in a WhatsApp group comprising a who's who of advertising, according to excerpts of the discussion documented by antitrust investigators and verified by Reuters. "This kind of practice is not in the spirit of what we are collectively trying to achieve," Sharma wrote, without identifying the parties. Shashi Sinha, then India CEO of New York-based IPG Mediabrands, suggested an industry group should "admonish the agency". The exchanges form part of a confidential dossier compiled by India's antitrust watchdog that chronicles how global advertising companies, including leading U.S. and European firms, coordinated to rig prices in the world's most populous nation. 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The firms agreed to cooperate on pricing, including not to undercut each other; colluded with broadcasters to deny business to agencies that didn't comply; and discussed financial terms involving at least four Indian clients over conference calls, according to the investigation documents. The documents don't indicate whether the agencies' foreign headquarters were aware of the executives' actions. A spokesperson for WPP Media , which until May was known as GroupM, told Reuters it was aware of the investigation but declined to comment further. A Dentsu India spokesperson confirmed Reuters reporting that it had disclosed industry practices to the CCI in February 2024 under the regulator's leniency program, which enables lesser penalties for firms that share evidence of malpractice. The spokesperson didn't address specific evidence raised in the dossier but said the firm had implemented stricter audits and controls. The other agencies and their executives didn't respond to Reuters questions about the antitrust probe and information in the dossier. The regulator also didn't respond to queries. Reuters has reported that in March, as part of the continuing investigation, the regulator raided the Indian offices of many advertising firms and an industry group that represents broadcasters, including the Reliance-Disney venture and Sony . CCI investigations typically take several months. The regulator can't press criminal charges, but can impose financial penalties on the media agencies of up to three times their profit or 10% of an Indian entity's global turnover, whichever is higher, for each year of wrongdoing. Secret Pacts WPP Media, the world's largest media buying agency, last year - when it was still known as GroupM - won new India business worth $447 million, followed by Omnicom's $183 million, according to research firm COMvergence. But India's near-$30 billion media and entertainment sector is grappling with weak consumer sentiment. Ad spending will rise 7% to $19 billion in 2025, the slowest growth in three years, according to GroupM estimates. The CCI is investigating the role of two industry bodies, the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation (IBDF), in orchestrating the suspected cartel. The former group is led by WPP Media India head Prasanth Kumar, while the broadcasting body's president is Kevin Vaz, a top Reliance-Disney venture executive. Neither industry group responded to requests for comment. The dossier shows the AAAI circulated guidelines to ad agencies in August 2023: They must charge clients whose annual spending exceeds $29 million a minimum 3% commission for digital ads and 2.5% for traditional media. Lower-spending clients would pay higher minimum commissions of up to 8%. A month later, the industry associations entered a joint pact, agreeing no agency would "unilaterally offer any discount" on rates while pitching for business. The pact, reviewed by Reuters, declared its aim was to eliminate "lower pricing as a reason to award a pitch". The advertising firms began coordinating their activities at least as early as August 2023, according to the CCI documents. Ad executives who met on December 1 that year hailed their collaboration as a "great success" and resolved to continue, according to meeting minutes cited in the CCI's evidence. 'All Aligned' In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission this month sought information from advertising agencies as part of a probe into whether they coordinated boycotts of certain sites. The Justice Department in 2016 probed agencies it suspected of rigging bids to favour in-house units, but eventually closed the case without bringing charges. Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev used CCI's leniency program to blow the whistle on an industry cartel in India in 2017. In the case of the ad industry, Dentsu India told Reuters it filed its leniency application with the CCI not as a reaction to external pressure but out of a decision to "support reform from within". Two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the evidence Dentsu submitted included a transcript of the WhatsApp group. The group, formed in August 2023 and reviewed in part by Reuters, was named "AAAI media agencies" and contained scores of chat messages. Participants included Kumar of WPP's media company, Sharma of Omnicom Media, IPG Mediabrands' Sinha, Havas Media India CEO Mohit Joshi, Dentsu South Asia CEO Harsha Razdan and then-media business CEO Anita Kotwani, Publicis South Asia chief Anupriya Acharya and Madison boss Sam Balsara, the investigators' evidence shows. 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News18
41 minutes ago
- News18
800 Grams Gold, Rs 80,000 Cash Collected From Air India Wreckage. What Happens To It Now?
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