Ad Agencies Probe: French Group Publicis Takes CCI to Court

In a new development in the ongoing price-fixing probe into ad agencies, France’s Publicis has taken the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to court over the denial of access to key case records required to prepare its defence.

The antitrust probe was launched earlier this year over suspected collusion on publicity rates and discounts. It was triggered after Dentsu, in February 2024, disclosed alleged industry malpractices to the CCI under its leniency programme.

What is this Leniency Programme?

CCI’s leniency programme offers lenient treatment or lesser penalty as an incentive to infringers of law to come forward and disclose information, documents, and evidence with respect to their cartel conduct, in return for a reduction in the penalty which may be levied on them. This lesser penalty regime is provided under Section 46 of the Competition Act, 2002, and is governed by the CCI (Lesser Penalty) Regulations, 2024 (Click here to read our blog post on the Regulations).

Now, Back to the Probe

In March this year, the Commission conducted raids at the offices of major media agencies, including GroupM, IPG Mediabrands, Publicis, Dentsu, Omnicom, Havas, and Madison, as well as industry bodies such as the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA).

Despite its requests to keep further investigation in abeyance until it was granted access to the case records, the regulator continued with the probe, prompting the French advertising group to approach the Delhi High Court last week through TLG India – the legal entity that houses the majority of its advertising business in India.[1]

It has sought directions requiring the CCI to provide access to case files, without which it argues that Publicis and its employees in India cannot fully understand the allegations and prepare a defence. It has also requested the quashing of the summons issued earlier this month to Publicis’ South Asia chief, Anupriya Acharya.

According to the Court’s website, the matter was listed today, i.e., August 18, 2025, for hearing, though further details are not yet available.

Conclusion

How the Delhi High Court approaches this case and the eventual outcome of the CCI probe are likely to carry significant repercussions across the advertising space.

[1] TLG India Private Limited v. Competition Commission of India & Anr. [WP(C) 12399/2025].