Goutam Rakshit

The outgoing chairman - The Hindu joint managing director N Murali stated that with Rakshit at the helm, the further strengthening of ASCI as the self regulatory body of the Ad Industry was assured. Rakshit has earlier been chairman of associations such as the AFAA, AAAI, ABC and NRSC.

F.S.A.S., Ltd. managing director Ashoke Bijapurkar was elected the vice-chairman and Hindustan Lever Ltd managing director HPC Arun Adhikari has been appointed the Honorary treasurer.

The new Board of Governors comprises: Advertiser: Tata Motors's Ravi Kant, P&G's Bharat Patel, Cadbury's Bharat Puri, Media: The Statesman's CR Irani, Chitralekha's Bharat Kapadia, TV Today's G Krishnan, Kasturi & Sons' N Murali, Agency: Madison Commnunications' Sam Balsara, Mudra's Madhukar Kamath, Everest's Ram Sehgal, Allied Professions: Aaren's Urmila Jain, ICFAI's Dhananjay Keskar, Tobacco Institute RA Poddar.

ASCI's media campaign for raising awareness among the general public, of ASCI's role in ensuring truth in Indian advertising and adherence to social norms, has gained widespread support from media.

ASCI has also created its own website: www.asci.co.in, which invites the public to write to the ASCI on any ads that they consider improper, and which they would like ASCI to review.

Rakshit stated that the focus of the year would be to get every advertising industry body such as the AAAI, INS, ISA and IBF to become even more actively involved with the vital issue of self regulation of advertising, so that Indian advertising continues to set standards for the rest of the world.

(Picture courtesy: The Hindu)