Madison seeks Delhi High Court relief to halt antitrust probe

New Delhi: India’s Madison Communications has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, aiming to block an ongoing antitrust investigation into its operations. 

The agency argues that certain investigative steps taken by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) were unlawful.

According to court documents seen by Reuters, Madison claimed that during raids in March, its top executives were interrogated in the middle of the night, in the presence of armed officers, without being allowed to consult legal counsel before making statements. 

The petition further asserted that the CCI failed to provide specifics on which documents or files were seized,  a gap Madison says violates the legal requirements governing searches and seizures.

The legal filing also seeks to quash the summons issued to Madison’s Chairman Sam Balsara and Executive Director Vikram Sakhuja, whom the CCI has reportedly asked to appear for further questioning next week.

This is the first time any ad agency targeted in this wider regulatory probe has sought to quash the investigation. Earlier, several agencies and broadcasters, including WPP’s GroupM, Dentsu, Publicis, and Omnicom, were subjected to regulatory raids amid allegations of collusion on ad pricing and discounting. Madison contended that the CCI’s investigation overstepped legal boundaries and must be checked by the court.

The CCI’s probe follows disclosures made by Dentsu in February 2024 under its leniency program, through which entities can provide evidence in exchange for reduced penalties. According to internal CCI documents, the regulator suspects that certain firms coordinated pricing via a private WhatsApp group.

A judge in New Delhi is scheduled to hear Madison’s petition. The court may either admit the matter for detailed hearings, grant an interim stay on the investigation, or dismiss the plea outright. 

It’s worth noting that Publicis, one of the agencies being probed, has separately petitioned the Delhi High Court for access to portions of the CCI’s case file. However, Publicis has not asked to nullify the investigation itself.