ASCI appoints Google's India head Rajan Anandan on its board

The self-regulatory voluntary organisation plans to step-up its efforts to promote fair advertising practises in the online space.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has appointed Rajan Anandan, managing director and country head of Google India, as a member of its board of directors. Anandan's induction immediately follows the appointment of ASCI's new Chairman I Venkat during the last AGM.

ASCI appoints Google's India head Rajan Anandan on its board

Anandan's appointment on the board is strategic to ASCI's plans to step up its efforts to promote fair advertising practises in the online domain. With a large percentage of India's population being very young, digital adoption is expected to increase going forward as more of the population comes of age and there will be a proportionate increase in online revenue spends. Thus, it becomes imperative for ASCI to ensure that advertising on the internet conforms to the current code of conduct.

Commenting on Rajan Anandan's induction on ASCI's Board, I Venkat, chairman, ASCI says that the internet is increasingly becoming a significant touch-point for brands to connect with consumers. "It becomes essential that online advertising is aligned to the primary objects of ASCI. Anandan's appointment on the ASCI Board will help the regulatory body to generate the necessary consciousness towards fair advertising practises in the online domain."

According to Anandan, the internet in India has over 100 million users, and is fast becoming a large scale advertising medium for businesses. "Being on the board will help ASCI and Google to jointly create awareness about fair advertising practises across a large bandwidth of consumer touch-points on the internet," he says.

With the kind of growth experienced in this space, online advertising will possibly be worth around one billion dollars by the end of 2014. An increased consciousness about the way brand advertising is done in the online space is critical for ASCI.

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