#ad Disclosure Rules in India: A Guide for Creators and Brands

If a brand gave you something of value and you then post about it, India's advertising rules treat that post as an ad, and your audience has to be told. That applies to a ₹50,000 Reel and to a free sample that arrived in the post.

Two sets of rules matter:

• ASCI's Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media. The Advertising Standards Council of India is the advertising industry's self-regulator. Its guidelines say when to disclose, which labels count and where to put them.
• The "Endorsement Know-hows!" guidance (January 2023) from the Department of Consumer Affairs. It applies the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 to celebrities, influencers and virtual influencers, and that Act carries real penalties.

This guide covers both, for creators and for the brands that hire them.

When a post needs a disclosure

You must disclose whenever there is a material connection between you and the brand. ASCI defines that broadly. It includes:

• money or any other payment;
• free products, including ones you didn't ask for, and discounts;
• gifts, trips, hotel stays, contest entries and awards;
• media barters and coverage;
• a family or employment relationship with the brand.

Three points people often get wrong:

1. An honest review still needs a label. ASCI says disclosure is required even if your opinion is unbiased and entirely your own, as long as the connection exists.
2. You don't have to be asked to post. If a brand sent you a free product and you mention it, that's a material connection.
3. Products you bought yourself don't need a label. If there is no connection and you simply like something you paid for, it isn't an ad.

Labels that count

ASCI permits any one or more of these labels:

• Advertisement
• Ad
• Sponsored
• Collaboration
• Partnership
• Employee
• Free gift
• Affiliate
• Instagram's "Paid partnership" tag
• YouTube's "Includes paid promotion" tag

The label must be easy for an ordinary viewer to understand, in English or in the language of the post itself. A Hindi Reel can carry its disclosure in Hindi.

Avoid abbreviations and vague tags such as #sp, #spon or #thanks. They don't tell a viewer the post is an ad.

Use the platform tool and your own label together. ASCI lists the platform tags as acceptable, and also says a platform's disclosure tool should be considered in addition to the creator's own disclosure. The safe habit is to switch on "Paid partnership" and write the label yourself.

Where to put the label

ASCI's core rule is that a disclosure must be upfront and prominent, so that an average viewer can't miss it. ASCI says disclosures are likely to be missed if they appear only:

• in your bio or profile;
• at the end of a post or video;
• anywhere the viewer has to tap "more" to see;
• buried in a group of hashtags or links.

How that works for each format:

For Reels and Shorts, put the label in the video itself as well as in the caption. Many people watch with the caption collapsed.

Extra rules for finance and health creators

In 2023 ASCI added stricter requirements for two categories, because bad advice in them can cause serious harm:

• Investments and stock markets. Creators who give investment or stock-market advice must be registered with SEBI, and must show their registration number alongside their name and qualifications on promotional posts. For other banking, financial services and insurance topics, ASCI expects relevant qualifications, such as an IRDAI licence or a CA or CS qualification.
• Health and nutrition. Creators who promote health or nutrition products with claims need a relevant qualification, such as a medical degree or a certification in nutrition, dietetics, nursing, physiotherapy or psychology, depending on the advice.

In both cases the qualification has to be shown prominently: on screen or said at the start of a video, and before the main text of a blog post.

Virtual influencers (computer-generated characters) must also tell viewers, upfront, that they aren't real people.

Claims: check before you post

A disclosure doesn't make a false claim acceptable. ASCI advises creators to satisfy themselves that the brand can back up the claims in the ad. The Consumer Affairs guidance also expects you to have actually used or experienced what you endorse.

Before you say "clinically proven", "dermatologist tested" or "results in 7 days", ask the brand for the evidence. Don't use filters or edits that make a product look more effective than it is, especially for beauty and personal-care products.

What brands are responsible for

Disclosure isn't only the creator's problem. Under ASCI's guidelines:

• the creator is responsible for making the disclosure;
• the brand is responsible for making sure the published ad follows the ASCI code, and should ask the creator to edit or delete a post that doesn't.

In practice, brands should:

1. Put disclosure in the brief and the agreement, with the label you expect for each format.
2. Check every post after it goes live, not just the draft.
3. Never ask a creator to hide, shrink or drop the label, or to present a paid post as their own unprompted opinion.
4. Keep evidence for every claim in the brief, and share it when a creator asks.

What happens if you don't disclose

ASCI handles complaints about influencer posts and actively monitors social media for undisclosed ads. When it upholds a complaint, it asks for the post to be corrected or taken down.

A paid post presented as independent opinion can also be treated as a misleading advertisement under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. For misleading ads, the Central Consumer Protection Authority can:

• order the ad to be stopped or changed;
• fine the brand or the endorser up to ₹10 lakh, and up to ₹50 lakh for later offences;
• bar an endorser from endorsing any product or service for up to one year, and up to three years for later offences.

The Act protects endorsers who have done due diligence to check the claims they make. That's one more reason to ask for proof before you post.

Quick checklist before you hit publish

• Is there any connection with the brand: money, free product, discount, trip, family or job?
• Is a clear label (Ad, Sponsored, Collaboration, Partnership…) at the very start of the caption?
• Is "Paid partnership" or "Includes paid promotion" switched on?
• Is the label on screen in the video itself, for long enough?
• On a Story, is the label on the image, readable?
• Can the brand back up every claim you make?
• For finance or health content: are your registration or qualifications shown?

How Hyppe handles disclosure

On Hyppe, disclosure is part of the terms of every work post, so creators agree to it before they're hired, and brands can check it at each delivery. Our Content & Disclosure Guidelines set out what we expect from both sides.

This guide summarises ASCI's guidelines and the Department of Consumer Affairs' guidance as of October 2026. It isn't legal advice. For the full and latest text, see ascionline.in.