New Delhi, March 31 -- In an industry known for controlling narratives, Indian advertising is now grappling with one it can't spin. Just days before the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicked off-India's single biggest ad moment of the year-the Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched a sweeping investigation into the heart of the media-buying ecosystem.

On March 18, CCI officials raided the offices of India's biggest media agencies-GroupM, IPG Mediabrands, Publicis, Dentsu, and Madison-alongside top industry bodies, including the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA). The allegation: price collusion and anti-competitive arran...