TNI Bureau: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has launched an investigation against 20 IAS coaching centres for allegedly using misleading advertisements and names and pictures of some toppers and successful candidates to attract the aspirants.
Speaking about the development, CCPA Chairperson Nidhi Khare said notices have been issued to 20 Vajirao & Reddy Institute, Chahal Academy, Khan Study Group IAS, APTI Plus, Analog IAS, Shankar IAS, Sriram’s IAS, BYJU’s IAS, Unacademy, NEXT IAS, Drishti IAS, IQRA IAS, Vision IAS, IAS Baba, Yojana IAS, Plutus IAS, ALS IAS, Rau’s IAS Study Circle and Dhishti IAS in the last one-and-half years for deliberately concealing important information about successful students.
Nidhi Khare further said that a total of four centres out of the 20 institutes have been imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each. The four centres on whom the fines have been imposed are Rau’s IAS Study Circle, Chahal Academy, IQRA IAS and IAS Baba.
She said that more than 10 lakh students appear the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) exam ever year while on average, 900 students clear it. Several coaching institutes use the names and photos of such successful candidates.
According to CCPA, the current market revenue of the coaching industry in India is about Rs 58,088 crore. Approximately 2 lakh students move to Kota in Rajasthan annually, while Delhi is often considered the hub of UPSC-CSE coaching.