Drishti IAS penalized again for false UPSC claims

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a ₹5 lakh penalty on Drishti IAS (VDK Eduventures Pvt. Ltd.) for publishing misleading advertisements about the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2022 results.

Drishti IAS had claimed “216+ selections in UPSC CSE 2022” in its ads, displaying names and photographs of successful candidates. However, the CCPA investigation found that 162 out of the 216 candidates had only enrolled in the Institute’s free Interview Guidance Programme (IGP), having cleared the Preliminary and Mains stages independently. Only 54 students had taken IGP along with other paid courses.

This omission of key details created the false impression that Drishti IAS was responsible for all stages of the candidates’ success, constituting a misleading advertisement under Section 2(28) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

This is the second penalty impose d on Drishti IAS for such misleading claims. The last time the Institute faced a similar penalty was in September 2024, when the CCPA fined them ₹3 lakh for overstating “150+ selections in UPSC CSE 2021” and directed it to withdraw the misleading advertisement. Despite the previous warning, Drishti IAS repeated the practice in 2022, highlighting repeated non-compliance and disr egard for consumer protection norms.

The CCPA has so far issued 54 notices to coaching institutes for misleading advertisements, imposing penalties of over ₹90.6 lakh on 26 institutes. The Authority emphasized that all coaching institutes must provide truthful and transparent information in advertisements to allow students and parents to make informed academic choices.