Industry Leaders Unite for Stronger Voice in Policy Engagement

Leaders from across India's advertising, media and broadcasting ecosystem have called for greater industry-wide collaboration and stronger institutional engagement with policymakers, arguing that a unified industry platform is increasingly necessary to address common challenges ranging from taxation and regulatory issues to driving long-term sector growth.

The discussion around creating a more cohesive industry voice has gained momentum as stakeholders grapple with a combination of slowing economic growth, evolving regulatory frameworks and structural changes across the advertising value chain.

Industry veterans believe that while individual sectors within advertising, broadcasting and media often face unique operational concerns, there is growing recognition that issues involving taxation, policy formulation and industry growth require collective representation before the government.

Speaking about the industry's current challenges, Srinivasan Swamy, Executive Group Chairman of RK Swamy and President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), said that the biggest concern confronting the ecosystem today is not necessarily regulatory but economic.

"There is no one pain point that can be said that is a pain point for all of us. If there is only one pain point that is there, it is the lack of growth. It is the economy that is sluggish," Swamy said.

According to him, global developments are adding to the pressure on businesses and marketing expenditure.

"The supply chain disruption caused by the Gulf War is not helping the situation. Because of supply chain problems, everybody is looking at cutting back on spends," he said, adding that these are temporary challenges that governments alone cannot resolve.

"Hopefully the war will end, hopefully the supply chain will start, and all of that will go away," Swamy noted.

Industry bodies moving towards a 'one voice' approach

The call for greater unity is also being echoed by leaders across advertising and marketing organisations, many of whom believe the industry's fragmented structure weakens its ability to engage effectively with policymakers.

Rohit Ohri, founder of Ohriginal, said recent industry discussions have underscored the need for all stakeholder groups to work together when addressing common challenges.

"At the 80 years celebration of AAAI, all the industry bodies were actually present there, whether it was ASCI, ISA, IBDF or The Advertising Club. Everybody actually looked at this and said that the need of the hour is to come together," Ohri said.

According to him, the objective is not merely collaboration among trade associations but ensuring that the industry speaks with a unified voice when engaging with government institutions.

"Whatever challenges the industry as a whole is facing, it needs now everyone to come together and find the best possible solution and the best representation as one voice to the government," he said.

Ohri noted that while there may not be a single dominant policy demand, several structural issues continue to require attention.

"There is not so much of stuff around what we want the government to resolve. There are a lot of structural issues that we are still looking at from a tax perspective, from this whole thing of recognising revenue and all that," he said.

"There are fundamentally many smaller issues that need to be actually taken care of and I think this is something that as one whole body together we are addressing with the government," Ohri added.

Growth remains the common denominator

For broadcasters and media companies, the challenge lies in aligning the interests of multiple industry segments that often operate under different business realities.

Avinash Pandey, Secretary General of the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), acknowledged that while all stakeholders share certain common objectives, achieving complete alignment remains difficult.

"While all of them want one common thing, growth of the business and creative freedom, different organisations are at a very different stage of their own businesses and hence the alignment is not very easy to achieve," Pandey said.

Even so, he believes the ideal scenario would involve a common platform through which advertisers, agencies, broadcasters and publishers can collectively advocate for industry growth.

"That's ideal, that one umbrella body should... they all should come together," he said.

Common policy issues need collective representation

While sector-specific concerns may continue to be handled by respective industry bodies, Swamy said there remains a strong case for an umbrella platform to intervene on broader policy matters affecting the entire communications industry.

"We have this, for example, there is a tax on advertising. It is a common pain point. Then we can get into it. If there is some problem on GST rules that is coming up, it is a common pain point. Then ACI can come into play," he said.

According to Swamy, issues involving taxation, government regulations and industry-wide policy frameworks lend themselves naturally to collective intervention.

"Anything related to macro issues of government, we can get involved," he said.

At the same time, he pointed out that highly specialised concerns affecting only one segment may not necessarily require intervention from a broader industry platform.

"Supposing there are guidelines on broadcast measurement or media measurement, that is related only to broadcasters. So that is not a common subject for us to take up," he said.

Swamy cited the industry's earlier engagement with policymakers on service tax-related matters as an example of how collective action can yield positive outcomes.

"If there is some pain point that comes about, then ACI will get into it. It has got into it before. Those days when we had this service tax issue, ACI got good rewards for that," he said.

Advertising's role in driving economic growth

Industry leaders also argue that the conversation with policymakers needs to move beyond regulatory concerns and focus on advertising's broader contribution to economic activity.

Despite the sector's influence on consumption and business growth, industry executives believe advertising's economic impact is often underappreciated in policy discussions.

"Finally, we are all talking about the size of the industry. At least we should contribute 1% of the GDP," Pandey said.

He stressed that advertising serves as a critical catalyst for consumption-led growth.

"Advertising is so central to the growth of this country," he said.

While governments generally recognise the importance of communication and public outreach, Pandey believes the industry must do more to articulate its economic significance.

"I don't think there is a problem at the policy-maker level. They realise the value of advertising. That's why if you look at it, this government is super active in advertising and PR," he said.

However, he added that the industry must collectively make the case that stronger growth in advertising can have a multiplier effect across the broader economy.

"The country has to come together to convince the policy maker saying that if this industry grows, what it drives is consumption. Advertising has only one role — to drive consumption. It drives consumption, and the economy will go up," Pandey said.

The growing consensus among industry leaders suggests that while sector-specific trade bodies will continue to address operational concerns, a more unified framework for government engagement could help the advertising ecosystem tackle common policy issues more effectively and strengthen its contribution to India's economic growth agenda.