What do the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act advertising rules say?
The quick answer. The Drugs and Magic Remedies Act advertising rules say you may not take part in publishing an advertisement that refers to a drug in terms that suggest it can be used for certain purposes. The purposes are miscarriage or preventing conception in women, sexual pleasure, menstrual disorder, or any condition in the Schedule or in the rules. The Act also bans a false or misleading drug advertisement. (PromotEdge reading of the Act, 7 November 2026.)
Who is covered. Section 3 says "no person". Section 2 says taking part in publication includes printing the advertisement, and publishing it outside India at the instance of a person living in India. An advertisement includes a notice, circular, label, wrapper or other document, and an announcement made orally or by light, sound or smoke. So a pack label, a leaflet, a shop-front board and a spoken radio line can all count.
What counts as a drug. Section 2 says a drug includes a medicine for the internal or external use of people or animals, a substance meant for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, and any article other than food that is meant to affect the structure or any function of the body. Check your product against this wording with a lawyer before you assume the Act does not apply.
The 54 conditions in the Schedule
The list. The Schedule to the Act lists these conditions. An advertisement that suggests a drug can diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any of them is banned by section 3. appendicitis; arteriosclerosis; blindness; blood poisoning; Bright's disease; cancer; cataract; deafness; diabetes; diseases and disorders of the brain; diseases and disorders of the optical system; diseases and disorders of the uterus; disorders of menstrual flow; disorders of the nervous system; disorders of the prostatic gland; dropsy; epilepsy; female diseases (in general); fevers (in general); fits; form and structure of the female bust; gall stones, kidney stones and bladder stones; gangrene; glaucoma; goitre; heart diseases; high or low blood pressure; hydrocele; hysteria; infantile paralysis; insanity; leprosy; leucoderma; lockjaw; locomotor ataxia; lupus; nervous debility; obesity; paralysis; plague; pleurisy; pneumonia; rheumatism; ruptures; sexual impotence; smallpox; stature of persons; sterility in women; trachoma; tuberculosis; tumours; typhoid fever; ulcers of the gastro-intestinal tract; venereal diseases, including syphilis, gonorrhoea, soft chancre, venereal granuloma and lympho granuloma. (The Act, Schedule, read 7 November 2026.)
What it means for you. Words such as cures, treats, reverses or prevents next to any of these conditions are the risk. The list is old: it includes terms like "dropsy" and "locomotor ataxia" and does not name HIV or AIDS. The Act also lets the government add conditions by rule, so check for rules. A claim that is not about a listed condition can still be false or misleading under section 4.
What is the penalty and who answers for it?
- Penalty (section 7). First conviction: up to six months in jail, a fine or both. Later conviction: up to one year, a fine or both.
- Companies (section 9). When a company commits the offence, every person in charge of and responsible for its business at the time, and the company, can be held guilty. A person can show the offence was committed without their knowledge or that they took all due care. Directors, managers and other officers can also be held guilty where there was consent, connivance or neglect.
- Cognizable (section 9-A). An offence under the Act is cognizable, which means the police can act without a warrant in the usual way.
- Search and seizure (section 8). A Gazetted Officer authorised by the State Government can enter a place, seize an advertisement that appears to break the Act, and examine records.
- Forfeiture (section 10-A). After a conviction, the court can order the advertisement and its copies to be forfeited.
What the Act does not cover
The savings (section 14). The Act does not apply to a signboard or notice put up by a registered medical practitioner on their premises to say that treatment for a listed condition is done there, a treatise or book on the subject from a bona fide scientific or social standpoint, an advertisement sent confidentially, in the prescribed manner, only to a registered medical practitioner, an advertisement printed or published by the Government, and an advertisement published with the Government's earlier sanction before the 1963 amendment. The Central Government can also exempt a drug or class of advertisements by notice (section 15).
Other laws still apply (section 13). The Act sits beside other laws. Our notes on the ASCI Code, the Supreme Court order and the influencer marketing guide cover other rules a health ad may meet.
Is the Act changing?
The 2020 draft. In February 2020 the Health Ministry put out a draft amendment Bill. SCC Online reported that it would widen advertisement to audio or visual publicity, electronic media and the internet, and raise the list of conditions from 54 to 78. Medical Dialogues reported on 21 May 2025 that the draft would allow a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh and two years in jail for a first conviction and up to Rs 50 lakh and five years later, and that a reply to an RTI application dated 15 May 2025 said no noting was recorded after 9 November 2022. (SCC Online, 7 February 2020, and Medical Dialogues, 21 May 2025, read 7 November 2026.)
What it means for you. As of the pages we read, the draft is not law, and we found nothing newer. The 1954 Act as amended in 1963 is the text to follow. Check the Gazette of India and the Ministry's site for any change before you rely on this.
A made-up example. Say an ayurveda brand plans a Reel for a herbal tonic. The script says "controls diabetes in 30 days". Diabetes is item 9 on the Schedule, and "controls" is a treatment claim. The brand's agency flags the line, and the brand rewrites it as a plain statement of the ingredients and how to take the product, with no disease named, and keeps the lab report on file. The brand also asks its lawyer to read the final script. The example is made up.
Six claims, checked
Here is how we read six common claims against the Act. This is our reading, not legal advice, and the last word is your lawyer's.
- "Controls diabetes in 30 days." Section 3 and Schedule item 9 (diabetes). A treatment claim for a listed condition. Banned for a drug, and section 4 too if it is not true.
- "Reduces obesity without exercise." Section 3 and Schedule item 38 (obesity). Banned for a drug.
- "Clinically tested to lower blood pressure." Section 3 and Schedule item 27 (high or low blood pressure). Banned for a drug, and section 4 if the test claim is false.
- "Boosts stamina in bed." Section 3(b), the capacity for sexual pleasure. Banned for a drug.
- "Prevents pregnancy naturally." Section 3(a), preventing conception in women. Banned for a drug.
- "Made with tulsi and ginger." It names no condition. Section 4 still asks that it be true, so keep proof of the ingredients. Lower risk, not no risk.
A checklist before you publish a health ad
- Does the ad name or hint at one of the 54 conditions, or at conception, sexual pleasure or menstrual disorder? If yes, stop and ask a lawyer.
- Is every claim true, and is the overall impression true? Keep the proof on file.
- Does the pack label, leaflet or shop board say the same thing as the ad? A label counts as an advertisement.
- Does an influencer or a printer carry the same claim? Each person who takes part in publishing is covered.
- Is the data you collect from readers handled in line with our DPDP note?
- Has a lawyer read the final copy? This guide does not replace that.
A word of care. We are marketers, not lawyers. We read the text of the Act on 7 November 2026 on a law site because the official site did not open for our reader, so we could not compare it with the official text or read any rules made under it. This guide gives general information, not legal advice. For your own case, ask your lawyer.
If you want a second pair of eyes on a health or wellness content plan, see our marketing audit services in India, our work for pharma and healthcare marketing or ask for a free growth plan.
