Why this is confusing: four layers, not one rulebook
Ask three people whether a doctor may advertise in India and you will get three answers. All three may be partly right, because no single law covers clinic marketing. Four different kinds of rule overlap, written by different bodies at different times, and most were drafted before Instagram existed.
The useful way to read them is by what each layer controls. Professional codes control what a practitioner may say about themselves. Product law controls what anyone may claim a medicine or remedy does. Consumer law controls whether an ad is misleading, whoever publishes it. Platforms control what their ad systems will accept. A clinic ad has to clear all four.
| Layer | Who it binds | Main instrument | What it controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional ethics | Registered doctors | Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 | Soliciting, self-promotion, signboards, announcements |
| Professional ethics | Registered dentists | Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014 | Advertising with decorum, websites, fees, superiority claims |
| Professional ethics | Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani practitioners | Practitioners of Indian Medicine (Standards of Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Code of Ethics) Regulations, 1982 | Publicity, handbills, hoardings, signboards |
| Product claims | Everyone, including agencies | Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 | Claims that a drug treats a scheduled disease |
| Consumer protection | Advertisers and endorsers | CCPA Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements, 2022 | Misleading, surrogate and bait ads; endorsements |
| Self-regulation | Advertisers who accept it | ASCI Code and Influencer Guidelines | Substantiation, disclosure, influencer qualifications |
| State law (Kerala) | Registered clinical establishments | Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2018 | Displaying rates, in Malayalam and English |
| Data protection | Anyone collecting personal data | Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and Rules, 2025 | Consent, notice and retention for enquiries |
This article is a map, not legal advice. Every instrument is named so you or your advisor can read it, and where the current position is genuinely unsettled we say so.
Doctors: the 2002 rules still apply
In August 2023 the National Medical Commission notified new Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023 — and three weeks later held them in abeyance “till further Gazette Notification”. The same notification adopted the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 as the operative code. We found no replacement notified since. Much of the confident online advice about “the NMC’s social media rules” describes the 2023 text, which is not in force.
The 2002 code is strict about practitioners promoting themselves. Regulation 6.1.1 treats soliciting patients “directly or indirectly” as unethical, bars publicity that invites attention to a doctor’s skill or achievements, and forbids boasting of “cases, operations, cures or remedies”. It permits formal announcements only for a short list of events: starting practice, changing the type of practice or address, temporary absence, resuming practice, succeeding to another practice, and public declaration of charges. Regulation 6.1.2 treats a self-photograph on a letterhead or signboard as self-advertisement.
Facilities get more room. Regulation 7.12 allows a hospital or nursing home run by physicians to advertise in the lay press, limited to its name, the type of patients it treats, its facilities and its fees. Signboards may carry only the doctor’s name, qualifications, specialty and State Council registration number (7.13), the registration number must be displayed in the clinic and on prescriptions (1.4.1), and fees should be displayed in the chamber (3.7.1).
The 2002 regulations say nothing about websites or social media. The practical reading we work to: a clinic’s own factual website — services, facilities, doctors’ qualifications as registered, hours and fees — is the conservative ground. Doctor-fronted reels that advertise the doctor’s skill, or “patient success” posts, are where the risk sits. Confirm anything borderline with your State Medical Council.
Dentists: more room, and a new regulator
The dental code is the most permissive of the three. Regulation 8.1 of the Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014 says a dentist “may advertise provided that they maintain decorum”. Regulation 8.2.9 permits a factual website carrying treatment facilities and fees, 8.2.8 permits directory and internet listings, and 5.7.1 says there is no bar on displaying fees in the clinic. What it restricts is claims of superiority, boastful “best” or “first” announcements, camps and handbills aimed at schools, and surrogate “educational” ads that carry the clinic’s contact details.
The regulator has changed: the Dental Council of India was dissolved with effect from 19 March 2026 under the National Dental Commission Act, 2023. The 2014 code continues to be applied until the Commission specifies new standards, and we found no replacement code as of this date. We cover the dental rules clause by clause in dental clinic marketing in Kerala.
Ayurveda practitioners: the tightest code
Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani practitioners are regulated by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM). The code most people should read is the Practitioners of Indian Medicine (Standards of Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Code of Ethics) Regulations, 1982, which NCISM still publishes. Part IV treats advertising through newspapers, placards, circulars or handbills as unethical, and bars a practitioner from allowing their name or photograph to be used in “any form or manner of advertising or publicity”. Signboards may carry only the name, recognised qualifications, titles and specialty. Touts are unethical, and so is “advertisement through hoarding and tour programmes”.
NCISM has since published a Board of Ethics and Registration text (2022) that repeats this line and adds one sentence every Ayurveda marketer should know: a practitioner “may claim to treat but shall not claim to have arrived at a cure” of any disease in the schedule to the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act. Check with NCISM or your State Board which text is currently operative; the direction of both is the same.
The practical consequence is a split. An Ayurveda centre can describe its therapies, facilities, durations and fees factually. An individual practitioner fronting advertising about themselves is on much weaker ground than a dentist doing the same.
Rule 170, briefly. Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules required approval from the state licensing authority before Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs were advertised. The AYUSH Ministry omitted it on 1 July 2024, the Supreme Court stayed that omission in August 2024, and on 11 August 2025 the Court disposed of the case and vacated its stay. As far as we can find, the rule currently stands omitted. That removes a pre-approval step for drug advertising; it does not relax the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, which still applies in full.
The claims no clinic may make
The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 is short and blunt. Section 3 forbids taking any part in publishing an advertisement that refers to a drug in terms suggesting its use for the “diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention” of any disease in its Schedule. Section 4 forbids false or misleading drug advertisements, and Section 5 covers magic remedies. “Any part in the publication” is wide enough to reach the agency that writes the ad.
The Schedule lists 54 conditions, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, high and low blood pressure, kidney stones, epilepsy, paralysis, tuberculosis, sexual impotence and female sterility. That is why “diabetes reversal”, “herbal cure for kidney stones” and “natural weight-loss treatment” campaigns are so often unlawful as written. A 2020 draft amendment would have taken the list to 78 conditions; it was never introduced in Parliament.
Enforcement is tightening. In March 2025 the Supreme Court directed states to designate officers under the Act, set up public complaint mechanisms and train police to handle complaints. A pure service advertisement is not squarely within the Act’s wording, but copy that pairs your medicines or therapies with a scheduled disease is exactly its target — the everyday risk for Ayurveda centres and lifestyle-disease clinics.
Consumer law applies to every clinic ad
The Central Consumer Protection Authority’s Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, issued under Section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, apply to all advertising “regardless of form, format or medium” (clause 3). The clauses clinics trip over most:
- Clause 4 — an ad must be truthful, must not exaggerate scientific validity, and must not suggest a claim is universally accepted where opinion is divided.
- Clause 6 — surrogate advertising is prohibited.
- Clause 9 — an advertisement prohibited by any other law is also barred here, which pulls the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act into consumer enforcement.
- Clause 11 — disclaimers may not contradict or hide the main claim, and must be in the same language and font as the claim.
- Clause 12 — claims need substantiation, and any research cited needs its source and date.
- Clauses 13 and 14 — an endorsement must reflect the endorser’s genuine, reasonably current opinion, and any material connection with the advertiser must be disclosed. Where Indian professionals are barred from endorsing, foreign professionals are too.
In August 2023 the Department of Consumer Affairs added guidance for health and wellness influencers: certified practitioners must disclose that they are certified, non-experts presenting health information must carry a clear disclaimer, content must say it is not a substitute for professional medical advice, and nothing may imply treatment of conditions the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act prohibits.
The ASCI Code sits alongside as self-regulation. ASCI is not a statutory regulator, but its influencer guidelines are widely followed: paid content must be labelled, and since the April 2025 update, influencers making technical health claims — prevention, treatment or cure — need a relevant qualification and must state it.
Kerala: rates on the wall, and possibly on the website
Kerala adds a rule most states do not have. Section 39 of the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2018 requires registered establishments to display, “in Malayalam as well as in English”, the fee rate and package rate for each type of service, and not to charge more than the displayed rate. It covers every system of medicine, including dentistry, Ayurveda and laboratories, but excludes establishments that provide only consultation.
The Kerala High Court upheld the Act in June 2025, and in November 2025 a Division Bench directed establishments to display services and baseline and package rates at the reception and on their websites, in both languages, along with grievance arrangements. In December 2025 the Supreme Court issued notice on an appeal and directed no coercive measures against the petitioning associations’ members, without staying Section 39 itself. Check the current position before you rely on it either way.
For marketing, the practical point is simple. If you may have to publish your rates anyway, make them the strongest part of your treatment pages rather than a table buried in a footer.
Patient data: plan for May 2027 now
Every WhatsApp enquiry, website form and remarketing list is personal data, and health information is the most sensitive kind. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is law, and its Rules were notified on 13 November 2025 with a phased start. The core obligations for clinics — itemised notice, consent, security safeguards, breach intimation and retention limits — apply from 13 May 2027. Until then, the IT Act’s reasonable-security rules continue to treat medical records and history as sensitive personal data.
Eighteen months sounds generous. It is not, if your enquiries currently live in staff phones and a spreadsheet. Consent wording, where enquiry data is stored and how long it is kept are all easier to design into a new system than to retrofit.
Google and Meta add their own layer
Platform policies are not law, but they decide whether an ad runs at all. Three matter most for Indian clinics:
- Google’s Healthcare and medicines policy — in India, prescription drugs cannot be promoted in ads or landing pages, and speculative or experimental treatments such as many stem-cell and PRP offers are prohibited.
- Google’s personalised advertising rules — remarketing, Customer Match and custom segments cannot be used for health-sensitive ads, which rules out “show this to people who visited our diabetes page”.
- Meta’s personal attributes policy — ads may not assert or imply that the viewer has a health condition. “Depression counselling” is acceptable; “Depression getting you down?” is not. Weight-loss and cosmetic procedure ads must target people aged 18 and over.
For dental specifics, see why Meta rejects dental clinic ads.
A pre-publication checklist for any clinic ad
- Who is advertising — the facility, or an individual practitioner? Practitioners have far less room.
- Does any line claim superiority — “best”, “most advanced”, “first”? Remove it.
- Does any line pair a medicine, remedy or therapy with a disease in the Drugs and Magic Remedies Schedule? Remove it.
- Is every claim substantiated, with the source and date of any research cited?
- Is any price the price most patients actually pay, with conditions in the same font?
- Are practitioners’ titles and qualifications exactly as registered?
- Is any patient identifiable? If so, is there recorded consent — and does the relevant code permit it at all?
- Is any influencer or endorser paid? Is that disclosed, and are they qualified for the claims they make?
- Does the ad target or imply a health condition in a way Google or Meta forbids?
- In Kerala: do your published rates match what you charge, in Malayalam and English?
What this means for each kind of practice
| Practice | Where you have room | Where the risk sits | Start with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor’s clinic | Factual clinic website, directory listings, public-health education | Doctor-fronted self-promotion, “success stories” | Google Business Profile and a factual services page |
| Hospital or nursing home | Facility advertising of services, facilities and fees (Reg. 7.12) | Outcome claims, consultant “star” campaigns | Department pages with consultants listed as registered |
| Dental clinic | Advertising with decorum, websites with fees, new-equipment announcements | Superiority claims, surrogate education posts, school camps | A page per treatment with honest fee bands |
| Ayurveda centre | Factual therapy descriptions, durations, facilities and fees | Cure claims for scheduled diseases; practitioner publicity | Therapy pages rewritten without disease claims |
| Diagnostic lab | Test menus, preparation instructions, prices and hours | Implying a diagnosis; health-sensitive remarketing | Test pages that answer “do I need to fast?” |
The short version
Indian clinic advertising is less forbidden than most practitioners fear, and more regulated than most agencies admit. Facilities may market facts: services, facilities, qualifications as registered, hours and fees. Practitioners should be careful about promoting themselves, and nobody may pair a remedy with a scheduled disease. Add the CCPA’s rules on misleading ads, Kerala’s rate display and the coming data rules, and the safe, effective clinic ad turns out to be the specific, factual one. That is also the ad patients trust.
If you run a clinic in Kerala, see how we apply this in Kochi and Kothamangalam.
