ASCI Influencer Guidelines 2026: Disclosure Rules for Brands and Creators

Under ASCI's Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media, any influencer post that has a material connection to a brand must carry a clear disclosure label such as Ad, Sponsored, Collaboration, Partnership or Affiliate. The label has to be upfront and prominent, and in video it must stay on screen for a set time. Health and finance creators must also show their qualifications, and AI-generated content in ads is about to need its own label.

This guide sets out the rules as they stand on 31 October 2026, each tied to its source and date. Where our confidence is lower, we say so. It ends with ASCI's enforcement numbers, a pre-publish checklist and a table of common violations.

It is written for the brand manager, marketing head or founder who signs off creator content. If you are new to the channel, start with our complete guide to influencer marketing in India. This page is about staying on the right side of the rules, and our influencer marketing glossary explains any term you meet along the way.

What ASCI is and how its code applies to influencers

ASCI, the Advertising Standards Council of India, is the advertising industry's self-regulatory body. Its code sets standards for what an ad may claim and how it must be presented, in any medium. The influencer guidelines do not create a separate rulebook. They apply the same code to content on an influencer's own account, on the principle that a post paid for or incentivised by a brand is an ad, whatever it looks like.

Two things follow. First, ASCI judges the post, not the intent. An honest opinion still needs a label if money, product or another benefit sits behind it. Second, ASCI is not a court. The statutory fines described later sit with a different body. What ASCI can do is ask for a post to be modified or withdrawn, publish what it finds and refer serious cases onward, as it did with two cases from its check of the Forbes India Top 100 Digital Stars list.

Who regulates what: a quick map

Five instruments matter to an influencer campaign. They overlap, and none overrides another, so meet the strictest one that applies to the post in front of you.

What counts as a material connection

ASCI's test is whether there is a material connection between the influencer and the advertiser. If there is, the post is an ad and needs a label. The guidelines list what counts:

• Money, in any form.
• Free or discounted products or services, even if sent unsolicited.
• Gifts and trips.
• Barter, meaning product or service in exchange for content.
• Awards.
• Family or employment ties to the advertiser.

Disclosure is needed even when the opinion is honest. The single exemption is a product the influencer bought, likes and has no connection with the brand over.

When a brand says "there was no connection"

Addendum 1 (15 July 2021) deals with this. If an influencer or advertiser says there was no material connection, ASCI asks for a declaration signed by a senior member of the advertiser, for example the head of marketing, legal or compliance. Where the advertiser cannot be traced, or several advertisers appear in one post, the influencer's proof of purchase can be enough.

Gifted products and PR boxes

The unsolicited-gift rule catches seeding campaigns. A creator who receives a PR box, and is free not to post, still needs a label such as Free gift if they do post. Barter is also a material connection. We cover how to run both without compliance gaps in our guides to gifting and seeding and barter collaborations.

Accepted disclosure labels

ASCI permits any one or more of these: Advertisement, Ad, Sponsored, Collaboration, Partnership, Employee, Free gift, Affiliate, or a platform disclosure tool. The label must be in English or in the language of the ad, and easy for an average consumer to understand.

ASCI lists the words but does not say which fits which situation. This is the mapping we write into briefs:

Four practical points:

• Collaboration and Partnership are accepted but vague. A viewer cannot tell whether money changed hands. On paid posts we prefer Ad or Sponsored, because nobody has to guess.
• Use the listed word in full. Abbreviations and in-jokes that are not on the list are a risk. This is our reading of the list, not a separate ASCI rule.
• Regional-language content can use a regional label. If the ad is in Hindi, Tamil or Bengali, a plain label in that language meets the language test. Agree the wording with the brand's legal team.
• Do not rely on the platform tool alone. It appears in different places on different formats, and viewers miss it. We pair it with a word on screen or in the caption.

Where and how the label must appear, format by format

Across all formats, the label must be upfront and prominent. It must not sit only in a bio or profile, at the end of a post, behind a "more" click, or buried among hashtags or links. The table gives ASCI's requirements by format; the notes underneath are our practice.

Notes from running campaigns

• Both places for video. ASCI sets the on-screen time. Our house rule adds the label to the first line of the caption as well. ASCI's wording is "upfront and prominent", not a specific line, so ours is stricter than the minimum.
• Mind the app's own interface. A label placed in the bottom strip or the right edge of a Reel sits under captions, buttons and the profile name. Put it where the interface does not cover it, with enough contrast to be read in a few seconds.
• Story sets: every frame that shows the product. The text requires the label on the visual. A label on frame one does not cover frames three to five.
• Carousels: first slide and caption. People swipe in at different points, and the caption is often truncated.
• Live streams and podcasts: say it, then back it up. The host announces the tie-up at the start and end, and around breaks for audio. A pinned comment, overlay or line in the show notes backs that up but does not replace it.
• Reposts and paid ads. When a brand shares a creator's post or runs it as a partnership ad, the label must survive the new format. Check the ad preview before it goes live.
• Do not forget LinkedIn. ASCI found 121 LinkedIn violations in FY2024-25, where professionals did not disclose paid partnerships, and issued a targeted advisory. Our LinkedIn creator work builds the label into the first line of every post.

Virtual influencers

Virtual influencers must additionally disclose, upfront and prominently, that they are not real humans. All the other rules still apply, including the material-connection label. The Department of Consumer Affairs' Endorsement Know-hows! was also released for virtual influencers.

The 2026 AI guideline (below) adds a second layer. Synthetically generated influencers and ambassadors are among its examples of content that needs an AI label. A virtual influencer in an ad therefore carries two disclosures: the label for the brand tie-up and the label saying it is not a real person.

One caution on claims. The consumer-affairs guidance tells endorsers not to endorse what they have not personally used or done due diligence on. A virtual persona that appears to taste or use a product is making an experience claim nobody can substantiate. That is our reading, not a quoted rule. The safe route is brand storytelling, not testimonials.

Health and finance influencers: Addendum II

ASCI's Addendum II, dated 6 March 2025, applies to influencers who give technical advice, or comment on the merits or demerits of products, in banking, financial services and insurance, or in health and nutrition. They must hold relevant qualifications and state them upfront.

Where the qualification goes

Superimposed on the visual or in the opening remark of videos, at the top of text posts, and at the start of audio. Proof must be provided if ASCI asks, so collect it before booking, not after a complaint.

The April 2025 narrowing

On 28 April 2025 ASCI updated the requirement. Qualifications are needed only where technical information or advice is given. Generic or public-service content does not need them. ASCI's own examples: an insurer using an influencer to talk about annual health check-ups, or a health-food brand tying up with a chef to promote a meal service.

In practice the line is advice. A creator saying "get a check-up every year" is generic. A creator explaining which supplement to take for a condition, or which mutual fund to buy, is giving technical advice and needs the credential on screen. If you are unsure, treat it as technical.

Our pages on health, wellness and fitness and fintech and BFSI campaigns cover the creator types we cast within these limits.

SEBI and finfluencers

SEBI's circular of 22 October 2024 (SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2024/143) changes who a regulated brand may work with. SEBI-regulated persons, meaning registered intermediaries, stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories, and their agents, must not have a direct or indirect association with anyone who gives securities advice or recommendations without being registered or permitted, or who claims returns or performance without permission. Associations through a specified digital platform are carved out. Contracts that existed at the time were to be terminated within three months. Read the circular on SEBI's site.

A FAQ circular (SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2025/11), issued on 29 January 2025 and updated on 8 May 2026, clarifies three points:

• "Association" covers money or money's worth, client referrals and system interplay.
• The regulated entity is responsible to the extent of its association.
• Investor education is not itself prohibited if the person does neither of the two banned things. On 8 May 2026 the look-back window for using market price data in educational content changed from the preceding three months to the preceding thirty days.

What this means for a brand:

1. If you are a SEBI-regulated entity or its agent, the circular applies to you directly. Check any finance creator's registration before contracting, and check that they make no return claims.
2. If you are not, ASCI's Addendum II still expects stock and investment creators to show SEBI registration and the number.
3. Referral and affiliate deals count. A fee per client referred is an association by SEBI's own definition.

AI-generated content: ASCI's 2026 guideline and the IT Rules amendment

ASCI's guideline on synthetically generated content

ASCI's Guidelines for Responsible Labelling of Synthetically Generated Content in Advertising were signed on 17 September 2026. A label is mandatory where AI-generated content materially influences consumer decisions. ASCI says the guideline takes effect three months after publication. Counting from 17 September, that is around mid-December 2026. That date is our arithmetic, so confirm it on ASCI's page before you rely on it.

Brands may use labels such as "created using AI" or "enhanced using AI".

Two situations come up often in India. A creator who uses AI dubbing to turn a Hindi video into Tamil or Telugu in their own cloned voice is replicating a real person's voice, but the guideline also treats translation for accessibility as a permitted use, so whether that needs a label is not settled. Our advice is to label it and keep the creator's written consent. A brand that generates a synthetic spokesperson for a regional ad needs a label even though no real person is depicted, because synthetic ambassadors are named in the guideline. The dubbing case is our reading of the examples. Where the answer is unclear, label.

The IT Rules amendment on synthetic content

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules 2026 (G.S.R. 120(E), dated 10 February 2026) added a legal definition of "synthetically generated information": audio, visual or audio-visual content that is created or altered so that it looks real. Platforms that let users create or share it have new duties, including labelling. MeitY's FAQ gives 20 February 2026 as the commencement date, which we rate Medium confidence. MeitY's consolidated text has the definition.

These duties sit on platforms, not on creators. Our inference is that creators will see declaration prompts when they upload, and a brand's brief should tell them to answer truthfully.

A further MeitY draft dated 30 March 2026 proposes continuous display of synthetic-content labels. We did not find that it has been notified, so treat it as a proposal, and expect longer or persistent labels if it is adopted.

Department of Consumer Affairs: Endorsement Know-hows! and penalties

Released on 20 January 2023 for celebrities, influencers and virtual influencers, Endorsement Know-hows! says:

• Disclosures must be prominent and hard to miss.
• Anyone with an audience who can sway purchases must disclose any material connection: payment, trips, hotel stays, media barter, free products with or without conditions, discounts, gifts, and family or employment links.
• Use simple language such as "advertisement", "sponsored" or "paid promotion".
• Do not endorse what you have not personally used or done due diligence on.

On 10 August 2023 the department added guidance on health and wellness endorsements. Certified practitioners and fitness experts must say so. Others presenting as health experts need a clear disclaimer that their content is not a substitute for medical advice. General advice, such as drinking water or exercising regularly, is exempt. The department said it would monitor and enforce this, with penalties under the Consumer Protection Act 2019. Some coverage describes this guidance as replacing the earlier booklet. We could not settle that point from the original, and the principles are the same, so we apply both.

Penalties

Under the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, notified on 9 June 2022, the Central Consumer Protection Authority can:

The guidelines also place due-diligence duties on endorsers. Because the Know-hows tells endorsers to disclose material connections, an undisclosed paid post is exposed to this framework. How it applies to a specific post is a question for a lawyer.

The penalties above are as PIB described them. We have not reviewed the statute's text and do not cover other provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, including any on imprisonment. Public enforcement through this route has been thin: we found no published CCPA or department action against a named influencer in 2025 or 2026, and the two cases ASCI escalated have no published outcome. That makes ASCI complaints the live risk, but it is not a reason to ignore the statute.

ASCI enforcement: what the numbers show

In ASCI's FY2025-26 report, the top influencer violation categories were illegal betting (54%), personal care (16.9%), electronics and consumer durables (7.9%), food and beverages (6.3%) and fashion and lifestyle (4.3%).

Three lessons for a brand manager:

• Almost every influencer ad ASCI reviews needs changes, at 97 to 98 percent.
• Betting is the biggest category by far, and it is a category that should never be in a brief. Personal care is the largest mainstream category, which matters if you sell beauty or skincare. See our page on influencer marketing for beauty brands.
• Big creators fail too. ASCI's second check of Forbes India's Top 100 Digital Stars 2024 found 76% failing disclosure norms, up from 69% in the first. It upheld 76 cases, and 95% agreed to add labels without contest. About two thirds (65.8%) of those 76 had no disclosure at all. The rest were buried or incorrect. Two cases went to the Department of Consumer Affairs.

The failures are mostly omissions and burying. A brief that specifies the label, and a review step before posting, removes most of the exposure.

Brand, agency and creator: who is responsible for what

ASCI's text is explicit that responsibility is shared. The influencer must make the disclosure. The advertiser must ensure the post conforms to the ASCI Code, and can ask the influencer to edit or delete it. Influencers should satisfy themselves that the advertiser can substantiate its claims. ASCI does not name agencies, so the agency column below is our reading of how the work divides in practice.

Write the split into the contract, with the exact label, an approval step and a takedown clause. Our guide to influencer contracts in India walks through the clauses.

Rules that sit beside disclosure

Disclosure is not the only rule an influencer deal triggers. Two others come up often: tax on benefits and children's data. This guide does not cover either in depth.

• Tax deducted at source on benefits. Section 194R of the Income-tax Act 1961, effective 1 July 2022, requires 10 percent TDS on benefits or perquisites given in the course of business once they exceed ₹20,000 in a financial year (CBDT Circular 12 of 2022, as summarised by TaxGuru). A product sent for a shoot and returned has no TDS; one the influencer keeps does. The Income-tax Act 2025 took effect on 1 April 2026 and consolidated TDS into section 393. Tax blogs map 194R there at the same rate and threshold, but section numbers and thresholds should be confirmed with a chartered accountant. This is not tax advice. See TDS 194R and GST on influencer payments.
• Children's data. The DPDP Act and Rules require verifiable parental consent and bar tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising aimed at children (PIB, 25 March 2026). Press reports put the main duties around May 2027. Any kid-focused creator campaign that collects sign-ups needs a plan for this.

Pre-publish compliance checklist

Run this before any creator post goes live. It takes five minutes per post once the brief is right.

1. Is there a material connection? Money, free product (even unasked), gift, trip, barter, award, family or employment tie. If yes, label it.
2. Is the label a listed one? Ad, Advertisement, Sponsored, Collaboration, Partnership, Employee, Free gift, Affiliate, or a platform tool. In English or the language of the ad.
3. Is it upfront? Not only in the bio, at the end of the caption, behind "more", or in a hashtag pile.
4. For video, is the on-screen time met? 3 seconds for 15 seconds or less, one third up to 2 minutes, the whole brand section beyond that.
5. For Stories and caption-free visuals, is the label superimposed on every frame that shows the product?
6. For live and audio, is the announcement made at the start and end, and around breaks for audio?
7. Is the platform tool paired with a visible word?
8. Are claims substantiated? Ask the brand for evidence for any number, result, ingredient or health claim. Cut what cannot be backed.
9. Health or finance content? Check qualifications, show them upfront, and keep the proof on file. For stocks, verify the SEBI registration number.
10. Is the brand SEBI-regulated? If so, confirm the creator is not giving unregistered advice or promising returns, and that referral terms have been reviewed.
11. Is any content AI-generated or AI-altered? Cloned voices, synthetic spokespeople, AI-dubbed audio. Apply the AI label from the guideline's effective date.
12. Is the category permitted? Betting promotion is the largest block of ASCI's influencer violations, so keep it out of briefs. Any other prohibited or restricted category needs a legal review before the brief goes out.
13. Is the contract signed and the TDS position clear?
14. Will the label survive reposts and partnership ads? Check the ad preview.
15. Is there a record? Keep the approved draft, the label wording, qualification proof and any no-connection declaration in the campaign folder.

Common violations and how to fix them

How we handle ASCI compliance at Influencer Gully

Compliance is a stage of how we run every campaign, not a final check. Every creator contract names the exact disclosure label. The brief repeats it, with the timing rules for the format. We review each script or concept and each draft for message, claims and disclosure before it reaches you. Health and finance creators are checked for the qualifications described above. The brand safety criterion in our Gully Score includes a creator's disclosure habits, so a creator with a record of undisclosed ads is flagged before you see their name.

If a post goes live without the right disclosure, we have it corrected or taken down, and payment is withheld until it is fixed. If you are planning a campaign and want the compliance review built in, send us a brief and the creator plan reaches you within 48 hours.

Dates and confidence at a glance

Rules change, and this page is reviewed when they do. The version above reflects the sources named on 31 October 2026. Read the primary text for any rule that carries a penalty for your brand.

This is general information, not legal advice.