I Venkat appointed new chairman of ASCI

At the Board Meeting of The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) held yesterday, I. Venkat, director, Eenadu, was unanimously elected chairman of the Board of ASCI. Arvind Sharma, chairman of India Sub-Continent - Leo Burnett, was elected vice-chairman; and Vikram Sakhuja, chief executive officer - South Asia, Group M Media India, was re-appointed the Honorary Treasurer.

The other members of the new Board of Governors are:  

Advertisers: Narendra Ambwani (Agro Tech Foods), Rajiv Dube (Aditya Birla Management Corporation), Shantanu Khosla (Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care), Gopal Vittal (Hindustan Unilever) 

Media: Rajan Anandan (Google India), Benoy Roychowdhury (HT Media)   

Advertising Agencies: Subhash Kamath (BBH India), Srinivasan Swamy (R.K. Swamy BBDO). 

Allied Professions: Dilip Cherian (Perfect Relations), Dhananjay Keskar (IBS), Pranesh Misra (Brandscapes Consultancy P. Ltd.), Partha Rakshit (Partha Rakshit Associates).

Rajiv Dube, director - group corporate services, Aditya Birla Management Corporation, and the outgoing chairman of ASCI, said, “It has been a privilege for me to have served as the chairman of ASCI and I step down from the position with the satisfaction of a progressive year on self regulation in advertising behind me, for which I would like to thank all who supported strengthening the movement further.”

Venkat said, “It is my honour  to be elected as the chairman of an organisation which has been providing remarkable service to the Indian masses and ad industry by effectively self regulating advertising content over past 26 years.  With the support of the ASCI’s Board and the Consumer Complaint Council (CCC) I will endeavor to further improve the awareness and usage of ASCI.  I urge the ad sector, the regulators, civil society activists and above all, the general public to actively seek ASCI’s services and also provide suggestions for its improvement.”