The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has raided the offices of several global advertising conglomerates, including GroupM, Dentsu and Interpublic Group, and a broadcasters' industry group over alleged price collusion, according to media reports.
The raids were being carried out in Mumbai, New Delhi and Gurugram, as officers of the Indian antitrust body reportedly searched around 10 locations. This was after the CCI initiated a case against the agencies and top broadcasters over allegedly fixing ad rates and discounts, as per reports.
The raids come as the ad landscape in India is seeing major shifts following the USD 8.5 billion merger between Walt Disney and Reliance's India media assets.
While WPP-owned GroupM is the world's largest media buying agency, the Indian Broadcasting foundation represents top domestic broadcasters, including the Reliance-Disney joint venture, Sony and Zee Entertainment.
(This is a developing story and will be updated.)