Advertising agencies in India: types, top names and how to hire

The quick answer

India has no official register of advertising agencies, and no official ranking of the "top" ones. The closest things to official lists are the member list of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), which showed 108 member agencies when we read it on 31 October 2026, and the list of agencies accredited by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), which is printed in the INS Press Handbook. For the thousands of smaller agencies, outdoor firms, PR shops and media houses, you need a business list: Starleads' Advertising & Media Agencies list for India had 89,859 businesses on 31 October 2026, 91% of them with a mobile number and 78% with an email, in 28 states and 208 cities. Mumbai (27,272), Delhi (17,519), Bengaluru (7,787), Pune (4,487) and Hyderabad (3,928) hold the most.

This guide is for two kinds of reader. The first is a business that wants to hire an advertising agency in India and needs to know what kinds of agency exist, how they are paid, which rules the agency must follow on your behalf, and how to run a fair pitch. The second is a business that sells to advertising agencies: printers, flex and signage makers, media owners with ad space, photographers, production houses, freelancers and software firms. It explains what each list holds and where it falls short, and how to reach agencies within TRAI's rules. All Starleads figures here are counts of contacts in Starleads' data on the day we checked, not an official census.

Types of advertising agencies in India

"Advertising agency" covers very different businesses. A search for advertising agencies in India returns global networks with offices in Mumbai and Gurugram next to a two-person firm that books newspaper classifieds in Patna. Before you shortlist anyone, decide which of these you need:

Type of agency	What it does	Who usually hires it
Full-service agency	Strategy, creative ideas, copy and design, production, and media planning and buying under one roof, often for TV, print, outdoor and digital together	National brands with large, steady budgets
Creative agency or boutique	Ideas, scripts, campaigns, brand identity and design; media is bought elsewhere	Brands that already have a media agency, start-ups launching a brand
Media planning and buying agency	Decides where the money goes (channels, publications, sites, outdoor sites) and negotiates and books the space	Advertisers with big media budgets; creative agencies working for them
Accredited print or release agency	Books advertisements in newspapers and magazines, issues release orders and pays the publication; many also design the ads	Local businesses, schools, coaching centres, government notices, tenders, recruitment and legal notices
Outdoor (OOH) agency	Hoardings, bus shelters, metro and airport panels, mall branding and transit ads; some own the sites, others resell them	Real estate, retail, education and consumer brands in a city or region
Digital and performance agency	Search and social ads, SEO, content, influencer campaigns and online lead generation	Almost every business now; see our digital marketing agencies guide
PR agency	Press releases, media relations, crisis communication and launch events; earned coverage rather than paid space	Listed companies, start-ups raising money, consumer brands
BTL and activation agency	Below-the-line work: in-store promotions, sampling, dealer meets, exhibitions and roadshows	FMCG, auto, telecom and finance brands selling through dealers

The lines blur. Many small agencies in Starleads' data do several of these at once: a Ludhiana firm may design the ad, book it in the local edition of a newspaper and print the flyers. Larger networks keep creative and media in separate companies under one group. When you compare agencies, compare the same type, and ask each one which parts it does in-house and which it hands to someone else.

Top advertising agencies in India: what the official lists show

Most pages that rank for "top advertising agencies in India" are written by agencies that put themselves first. There is no neutral, official ranking, and creative awards, billings and headcount give different orders. What you can check is who belongs to the industry's own bodies.

The AAAI member list

The Advertising Agencies Association of India calls itself "the official, national organisation of advertising agencies". Its site says it was founded in 1945 and that membership "is open only to Full Service, Creative, Digital and Media Agencies". Its member list showed 108 agencies on 31 October 2026, each with a postal address, most in Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. The well-known network names on it include Ogilvy & Mather, McCann-Erickson India, several Dentsu companies, Madison Communications, Lintas India and Mullen Lintas, Leo Burnett, Havas Worldwide India and Havas Media India, Publicis Communications, Rediffusion Brand Solutions and FCB Ulka, alongside many Indian independents such as Associated Advertising, Adfactors Advertising and Arrow Advertising. Membership does not prove quality, but it does tell you an agency has agreed to the association's code and is known to its peers.

INS-accredited agencies

The Indian Newspaper Society's accreditation page (read on 31 October 2026) says "The Rules of Accreditation for the Advertising Agencies are available in the INS Press Handbook", which also carries the list of accredited agencies. The 2023-24 Handbook costs ₹800 a copy at the INS office in New Delhi, or ₹1,100 by post. For an advertiser, accreditation is a useful sign that the newspapers' own body recognises the agency. INS's site also has pages on "Publication Obligation to Agencies" and agency circulars, which an agency in a payment dispute with a publication will know about.

Listed companies

A few advertising and outdoor companies are listed on the stock exchanges, and their annual reports, filed with the exchanges, give audited revenue, clients by sector and the names of their directors. Our company search guide shows how to look up any agency, listed or not, on the MCA and GST portals before you sign.

For most businesses outside the biggest brands, the right agency is not on any "top 10" page. It is a mid-sized or local firm that knows your city's media and your kind of customer. That is where business lists help.

Advertising agencies list: what Starleads' data shows

We read the All-India list page, the main city and state lists and the related lists for this guide on 31 October 2026. The All-India list holds 89,859 businesses. Beyond mobile and email, 15% have a landline; 84% come with a street address, 59% with the contact person's name and 24% with a PIN code. The three biggest states, Maharashtra (33,751), Delhi (17,683) and Karnataka (8,233), hold 66% of the rows.

Be clear about what the list is. It is a broad "advertising and media" list, not a list of AAAI-style agencies only. By category, the biggest group is Entertainment & Media (60,009 rows), followed by Offset Printing (4,419) and Advertising Agencies (3,489); production houses, exhibition firms and book publishers are in it too. The free sample we looked at also had a few rows from other trades. If you want only creative or media agencies, download the 60-row sample, filter on the category column and remove printers and production houses; if you sell print or production services, those same rows are what you want.

Live figures from the list today: the Advertising & Media Agencies list for India has 89,859 contacts, 91% with a mobile number and 78% with an email address. Every list page shows 60 sample rows you can download free before you buy, and you can buy one of 22 city lists instead of all of India.

Advertising and media agencies by city

• Mumbai 27,272 contacts · 72% email · 90% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 7,787 contacts · 61% email · 94% mobile ₹499
• Pune 4,487 contacts · 69% email · 91% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 3,928 contacts · 96% email · 94% mobile ₹499
• Chennai 3,900 contacts · 96% email · 97% mobile ₹499
• Kolkata 3,477 contacts · 97% email · 86% mobile ₹499
• Noida 2,473 contacts · 89% email · 93% mobile ₹499
• Jaipur 2,105 contacts · 59% email · 92% mobile ₹499
• Ahmedabad 1,516 contacts · 94% email · 88% mobile ₹499
• Gurugram 1,373 contacts · 82% email · 90% mobile ₹499
• Ludhiana 609 contacts · 56% email · 93% mobile ₹499
• Faridabad 543 contacts · 82% email · 87% mobile ₹499

Related lists: designers, digital agencies, signage and printers

Agencies hand work to graphic designers, flex and signage printers and DTP operators, and digital agencies compete with them for the same budgets.

• Advertising & Media Agencies 89,859 contacts · 78% email · 91% mobile ₹1,999
• Graphic Designers 43,381 contacts · 92% email · 97% mobile ₹1,999
• Digital Marketing & SEO Agencies 1,620 contacts · 63% email · 92% mobile ₹499
• Signage, Sign Board & Flex Printers 2,842 contacts · 53% email · 93% mobile ₹499
• Printing & DTP Operators 12,631 contacts · 98% email · 99% mobile ₹1,999

The city lists differ a lot in what they hold, which matters more than the headline count:

List	Contacts	Mobile	Email	What stands out
Mumbai	27,272	90%	72%	81% of Maharashtra's rows; 1,448 production houses and 1,292 advertising agencies by category; only 43% name a person
Delhi	17,683	94%	83%	77% name a person; 1,469 offset printers and 876 advertising, PR and event firms by category
Bengaluru	7,787	94%	61%	Most where a locality is given are in Rajajinagar (156), Jayanagar (90) and Indira Nagar (81)
Kerala	744	96%	96%	Kochi (267), Thiruvananthapuram (221) and Kozhikode (100); 87% name a person
Bihar	765	69%	97%	Patna (632), Muzaffarpur (35) and Bhagalpur (27); better for email than for calls
Ludhiana	609	93%	56%	65% of Punjab's rows; Miller Ganj (29), Civil Line (12) and Dugri (12); many offset printers
Faridabad	543	87%	82%	23% of Haryana's rows; 414 under Entertainment & Media
Coimbatore	353	88%	95%	8% of Tamil Nadu's rows; 315 under Entertainment & Media

Four related lists help whichever side you are on. The Graphic Designers list has 43,381 contacts, 97% with a mobile, most in Mumbai (11,070), Delhi (4,802), Bengaluru (4,401), Hyderabad (3,770) and Pune (3,512). The Digital Marketing & SEO Agencies list is small, 1,620 contacts with 92% mobile, because most digital agencies are filed under advertising or IT in the source data. The Signage, Sign Board & Flex Printers list has 2,842 contacts, 93% with a mobile. The Printing & DTP Operators list has 12,631 contacts but is almost all Maharashtra (12,549), mainly Mumbai and Pune, so it is no use for other states. For the people who hire agencies, the CMOs, Finance & Marketing Heads list has 55,969 contacts but almost no mobile numbers: it is an email list. Figures for every industry are on the Insights page.

The rules every advertising agency in India works under

When you hire an agency, it is working under rules that also bind you as the advertiser. A good agency will raise these before you ask; a weak one will not. The ones that matter most day to day:

Rule or body	What it requires	What it means for you
Self-declaration certificate (Supreme Court order, 7 May 2024)	A signed certificate that a new ad has no misleading claims and follows the relevant codes, uploaded before the ad runs	Agree in writing who files it for each campaign and who signs
Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, rule 7	The advertising code for TV channels	TV and radio ads are self-certified against it on the Broadcast Seva portal
Press Council of India norms	The Council's Norms of Journalistic Conduct	Print and digital ads are certified against them on the Council's portal
ASCI Code	Self-regulatory code that aims to keep ads fair and honest	Anyone can complain; an upheld complaint means changing or pulling the ad
INS accreditation rules	Rules for accrediting agencies, printed in the INS Press Handbook	Ask a print agency whether it is accredited, and check the Handbook's list
TRAI's commercial communication rules	DND preferences, registered headers and templates for SMS and calls	Any agency running SMS or calling campaigns for you must use registered routes

The self-declaration certificate

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's press release of 3 June 2024, published by PIB and kept on ASCI's site, explains the order. In IMA & Anr. v. Union of India (Writ Petition Civil No. 645/2022), the Supreme Court directed on 7 May 2024 that "all advertisers/ Advertising Agencies must submit a 'Self-Declaration Certificate' before publishing or broadcasting any advertisement". TV and radio ads are certified on the ministry's Broadcast Seva portal; print and digital ads on the Press Council of India's portal. The certificate is signed by an authorised representative of the advertiser or agency and certifies that the ad "does not contain misleading claims" and complies with rule 7 of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 and the Press Council's Norms of Journalistic Conduct. It applies to all new ads released on or after 18 June 2024, and the advertiser must give proof of the upload to the broadcaster, printer, publisher or platform. Ongoing ads did not need it at the time of the release. Check the portals for the current procedure before each campaign.

ASCI

The Advertising Standards Council of India describes itself as an "independent, voluntary self-regulatory organisation" whose aim is to keep ads fair, honest and in line with the ASCI Code. Its home page showed "Complaints handled till date 91291" on 31 October 2026, with decisions listed by company and product, some upheld and some not. It publishes guidance on labelling synthetically generated (AI-made) content in ads, offers advisory services for advertising, endorser due diligence and influencers, and keeps a non-compliance list. Ask any agency you hire how it uses these: an agency that checks claims against the ASCI Code before you spend money on media saves you the cost of pulling a campaign later.

How to choose and hire an advertising agency, step by step

1. Write a one-page brief. What you sell, to whom, in which cities and languages, what you want people to do (call, visit, buy online, ask a dealer), the budget for media and the budget for the agency's fees, and the dates. Agencies can only quote sensibly against a clear brief.
2. Decide the type of agency. Use the table above. A coaching centre in Patna wants an accredited print agency and an outdoor firm; a B2B manufacturer may want a small creative agency plus a digital one; a national FMCG brand needs a full-service or media agency.
3. Build a long list of 10 to 15. Take names from the AAAI member list for larger agencies, from the work you admire in your own city (ask the newspaper or hoarding owner who booked it), and from a city list of advertising agencies for local firms. Look at each one's recent work on its own site.
4. Check each company. Look up its GSTIN on the GST taxpayer search to confirm the legal name, state and whether the registration is active, and check the MCA record if it is a company or LLP. Ask whether it is INS-accredited if print matters to you, and whether it is an AAAI member.
5. Shortlist three or four and run a fair pitch. Give every agency the same brief, the same deadline and a chance to ask questions. Big speculative creative pitches cost agencies real money; many smaller firms will ask for a pitch fee, which is fair. You can instead ask for a credentials presentation and a short strategy response.
6. Compare how they want to be paid. The common models are a commission on the media they book, a monthly retainer, a fee per project, or a mix. Ask for the media rate card and any discount the agency gets, and agree whether discounts are passed to you. Ask what is billed extra: production, stock images, shoots, music rights, translations.
7. Put it in a contract. Cover the scope, fees and payment terms; who owns the creative work, artwork files and source files when the contract ends; who pays the media and when; who files the self-declaration certificate and who signs it; approval steps for claims, especially health, finance and "number one" claims; confidentiality; and how either side can end the contract.
8. Start with a test campaign. A three-month project shows how the agency works before you sign a yearly retainer.
9. Measure what you agreed. Calls, enquiries, footfall, sales by city, cost per lead. Review monthly, not just at the end of the year.

Selling to advertising agencies

Agencies are buyers as well as sellers, and they buy often because every campaign needs outside help. Who buys what:

• Printers, flex and signage makers: the production head or the owner in a small agency. Agencies want reliable delivery dates and colour that matches the proof more than the lowest rate.
• Media owners: local newspapers, magazines, radio stations, cable channels, outdoor site owners, cinema and digital publishers sell space to the media planner or the owner. Bring a rate card, audience figures you can back up and site photographs.
• Freelancers and production houses: designers, copywriters, photographers, video editors, voice-over artists and translators pitch to the creative head with a short portfolio of relevant work.
• Software and services: design and project tools, ad tech, call tracking, printers' web-to-print portals, accounting and payroll. The founder or partner usually decides in agencies with fewer than 50 people.
• Agencies selling to brands: the agency is the seller here, and the buyer is the business owner or marketing head. Our guides on B2B marketing strategies and cold email templates help an agency find its own clients.

Good timing helps. Agencies are busiest before festive seasons and in the weeks before the end of a client's financial year, when budgets are spent. A short, specific first message works better than a brochure: name the city, what you supply and one recent job for an agency like theirs, then offer a sample or a rate card. Our guides to web design companies and event management companies cover the trades that agencies most often work alongside.

City, state and specialisation lists cost ₹499 each and an All-India list with 10,000 or more contacts costs ₹1,999, plus 18% GST. Use the list builder to combine advertising agencies with graphic designers or printers in the cities you cover.

Calling, SMS and email within the rules

In a small agency, the mobile number on a list is usually the owner's own phone. TRAI's rules apply whichever list it came from:

• DND (NCPR). TRAI's preference registration page (read on 31 October 2026) lets anyone block commercial communication by SMS or a call to 1909, by IVRS, an approved app or a web portal, by category (one of them is "Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT"), by mode, time band and day of the week. Check numbers before any promotional campaign; our DND check guide shows how.
• Registered senders and DLT. TRAI's Second Amendment Regulations of 12 February 2025 require access providers to ensure that commercial communication "takes place only using registered headers or the number resources allotted to the Senders", and give recipients seven days to complain. Send SMS only through a DLT-registered provider with an approved header and template; our DLT registration guide explains how. An agency that runs SMS or calling campaigns for clients must follow the same rules, and a client should ask which registered entity sends its messages.
• Consent and personal data. At the end of a first call, ask how the agency prefers to hear from you (email, WhatsApp or a visit), note the answer and the date, and stop when someone says no. Our DPDP Act guide for B2B sales covers how India's data protection law affects business contacts.

Starleads sells lists of businesses and professionals only. It does not sell lists of consumers, viewers, readers or any other private individuals, and an agency list must not be used to target people at home.

Questions people ask

What are the top 10 advertising agencies in India?

There is no official top 10. Rankings on the web are usually written by agencies about themselves, and award tables, billings and headcount each give a different order. The large network agencies on AAAI's member list include Ogilvy & Mather, McCann-Erickson India, Dentsu's companies, Madison Communications, Lintas, Leo Burnett, Havas, Publicis, Rediffusion and FCB Ulka. Choose by fit with your brief, not by rank.

Who are the big 5 advertising agencies?

The phrase usually refers to the global holding groups that own many agency brands, and the list changes when they merge or sell businesses. For a buyer in India, it matters less than who will actually work on your account: ask which team, which office and which people, and meet them before you sign.

What are the top 50 advertising agencies in India?

No official list of 50 exists. The AAAI member list (108 agencies when we read it) is the nearest thing to an industry roll of established agencies, and the INS Press Handbook lists agencies accredited for print. Starleads' list goes much wider, with 89,859 advertising and media businesses, most of them small and local.

How many advertising agencies are there in India?

No government body publishes a count. Starleads' data holds 89,859 advertising and media businesses, which includes printers, production houses and media firms as well as agencies; within that, 3,489 are filed under "Advertising Agencies" as a category. Both are counts in Starleads' data, not a census.

How do advertising agencies make money?

Through a commission or margin on the media they book, monthly retainers, project fees, production mark-ups, or a mix. Ask any agency to show you how it is paid on your account and whether media discounts are passed on.

Do I need an agency to place a newspaper ad?

Not always, since many newspapers take ads directly. Agencies help with design, rates across several papers and editions, and the paperwork; INS publishes its list of accredited agencies in its Press Handbook. Either way, new ads need the self-declaration certificate.

Can an advertising agency be held responsible for a misleading ad?

The Supreme Court's 2024 order puts the self-declaration duty on "advertisers/ Advertising Agencies", and ASCI's complaints process names the advertiser and the product. Agree in your contract who checks claims and who signs the certificate, and keep proof for every claim you make.

How do I get a list of advertising agencies with contact numbers?

Download the free 60-row sample of the All-India list or a city list, check the categories and contact details, and buy only the city or state you need. Our digital marketing agencies guide covers the digital side of the same trade.