Britain's advertising watchdog has rapped an Indian channel for telecasting an advertisement that breached the standards code by promoting the occult, psychic practices and exorcism.
The Doordarshan-India channel was launched in the UK in March 2007 in association with Rayat TV, which describes itself as being "part of the diverse Rayat Group, which has interests in India and the UK in education, travel, retail and media".
The advert on DD-India channel in Hindi said that Pandit Bharatraj Shastri was an expert in "palmistry, birth kundali (horoscopes), vastu expert (lifestyle expert), marriage life, marriage of your choice, trouble in business, dissatisfied at work, affect of black magic, family problems, whatever the problem".
The on-screen text mentioned a phone number over background graphics of a palm, Lord Ganesh, the moon, the earth and horoscope and face-reading symbols.
DD-India added a disclaimer at the end of the advertisement stating "Rayat Television Enterprises Ltd does not take any responsibility & liability for any advice given, nor does it necessarily subscribe to its views".
The monitoring staff of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) challenged whether the advert promoted an unacceptable category as defined by the advertising standards code in elation to the occult, psychic practices and exorcism.
It also challenged if the advert offered a commercial service of individual advice on personal or consumer problems, contrary to the code.
On both these counts, the ASA concluded that it was of an unacceptable category and breached the code.
The ASA ruled that the advertisement 'must not be shown again'.
DD-India withdrew the advert during the investigation. The channel explained to ASA that it believed the advert was compliant but having re-read the rules, it acknowledged that the advert breached the code.
The ASA said: "They (DD-India) explained that they had seen similar ads on other Asian TV channels and had based their clearance of the Pandit Bharatraj ad on those. They promised not to broadcast ads for unacceptable products or services in future".
The ASA noted that this was the second time that its monitoring staff had contacted DD-India about astrology advertisements.
The ASA added: "Monitoring staff had obtained an assurance that DD-India would not broadcast the last ad and we were concerned that DD-India was applying the code wrongly and relying on other channels clearance".
In another case, the ASA rapped the Manchester-based British Asian channel DM Digital for showing an advertisement for a face cream depicting Indian actress Bhagyashree.
The advert made several claims that breached the advertising code, the body added.
It directed the channel not to show the advert in its present form and added that the product should not be advertised without adequate substantiation for the claims made for it.
© 2026