To launch Google Ads in India, keep your customers' languages from those Google Ads recognizes, write ads, keywords and landing pages in each one, then sort out GST, the GSTIN number and a payment method that follows the central bank's rules. Geographic targeting also lets you aim at areas inside the country. The verified facts are in the table at the top of the page.
Key takeaway: In India, think by language and by area rather than by country: ads and landing pages in each of your customers' languages, GSTIN and payment sorted out before launch, your sector's rules checked, then each keyword checked on Indian Google before you buy it.
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Official languages | Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union; English may also be used for official purposes | Ministry of Home Affairs of India, Department of Official Language |
| Languages Google Ads supports | English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and Punjabi. Google Ads does not support, for example, Assamese, Odia or Nepali | Google Ads API, language codes |
| Currency | Indian rupee (INR), symbol ₹; one rupee is 100 paise | Reserve Bank of India (central bank) |
| Search engines (share of searches) | Google 96.63%, Bing 1.92%, DuckDuckGo 0.64% (September 2026) | StatCounter Global Stats |
| Mobile vs desktop | Mobile 77.3%, desktop 22.1%, tablet 0.6% of page views (September 2026) | StatCounter Global Stats |
| Google Ads billing entity | Google Asia Pacific or Google India Private Limited (GIPL), depending on which entity provides the services to the account | Google Ads Help, “Taxes in your country” |
| VAT on Google Ads | GST (Goods and Services Tax) charged by Google on purchases. With GIPL, a GSTIN is mandatory for a business account; with Google Asia Pacific, a valid GSTIN avoids the GST. Tax deducted at source (TDS) of 2% excluding GST on advertising payments to GIPL | Google Ads Help, “Taxes in your country” |
| Country VAT rate | 18% IGST; for a bill-to address in Haryana, 9% CGST + 9% SGST; 0% for advertisers in a special economic zone (SEZ) | Google Ads Help, “Taxes in your country” |
| Country-specific Google surcharge | No surcharge in force: the 2% “India Regulatory Operating Cost”, charged on ads served in India when the billing country was not India, no longer applies since September 1, 2024 | Google Ads Help, “Jurisdiction-specific surcharges” |
| Online gambling | India is not in the list of countries where Google allows these ads: online gambling not listed for a country cannot be certified or advertised. Promotion of offline gambling is also prohibited there. “Social casino” games (no real-world prize) remain possible with a certification | Google Advertising Policies, “Gambling and games” |
| Financial services | To show financial services ads in India, including to Indian users who appear to be seeking financial services, advertisers must be verified by Google, usually after third-party verification (G2RS) of their license from the Indian regulator or of their exemption | Google Advertising Policies, “Financial Services Verification”, India |
| Dussehra | October 20 (Tuesday), a public holiday for central government administrative offices in Delhi in 2026 | Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), 2026 central government holidays |
| Diwali (Deepavali) | November 8 (Sunday), a public holiday for central government administrative offices in Delhi in 2026; in some States the occasion is celebrated a day earlier (Naraka Chaturdasi) | Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), 2026 central government holidays |
Data verified on . Each value was read on its source on the date shown. It may have changed since: the source prevails.
One campaign per country keeps budgets, bids and reports readable. In the settings, pick India as the location. If your offer only covers a few cities or regions, target those areas instead. The “Presence” option keeps only people located in the area; “Presence or interest” widens it to people interested in it.
Start from your customers’ languages, then keep the ones Google Ads recognizes (facts table at the top of the page). Create one campaign, or at least one ad group, per language, with keywords, ads and landing page written in that language. Google has removed the language setting from Search campaigns: it matches ads on their own language. The unsupported language rule bans advertising in the others.
For each language, start from Keyword Planner set to India and that language, then check the Google India results page: a word-for-word translation can miss how people actually type. Also look, in the search terms report of your first weeks, at whether queries are written in the local script or in Latin letters.
Choose the account currency before you create campaigns: UPI requires an account in rupees. Enter the GSTIN and a billing address in the matching State before the first invoice, because Google does not correct a finalized invoice. The GST rates and tax deducted at source are in the facts table.
For automatic card payments, check that the card accepts the recurring-payment authorization (e-mandate) the central bank requires: otherwise a declined charge switches your ads off. Prepayment, including by UPI from the Android app, keeps the account in credit.
Online gambling cannot be advertised in India. Financial services need verification by Google, often preceded by third-party verification through G2RS. If your business or your keywords touch on credit, insurance or investment, start the process before you write the ads.
Write directly in each language, with prices in rupees and delivery and return terms that apply in India. Have a native speaker review each version rather than publishing a raw translation.
Before you bid, open the Google India page for each keyword in the target language, or have it read by the intent analysis in Should I Bid: a Bid, Test or Skip verdict. Then run a capped test budget and review the search terms report.
Hindi is the official language of the Union, and English may also be used for official purposes. That is what India's Ministry of Home Affairs states, pointing to the text of the Constitution. For an advertiser, this says little: it does not tell you which language your customers type their searches in, or which language they want to read your ad in. That answer is measured in the field, keyword by keyword.
The Constitution recognizes twenty-two languages in its Eighth Schedule, but Google Ads only recognizes some of them. The facts table at the top of the page gives the list of languages Google Ads recognizes: English and ten Indian languages. Assamese, Odia or Nepali, for example, are in the Eighth Schedule without being on Google Ads' list. If your audience mostly speaks one of those languages, you will have to write your ads in a language from the list.
The unsupported language rule bans an ad or a destination in a language Google Ads targeting does not handle. Before you commission copy in a language that is not on the list, read that rule in Google's advertising policies. A rejected item has to be fixed and reviewed again by Google before it can run: better to know this before the copy is written.
Google has removed the language setting from Search campaigns: the language of the ad decides. For Search campaigns, ads are now matched automatically on their own language, and Google gives priority to ads in the language of the search term. For Performance Max, that setting no longer applies to ads on the search network, but it still applies to the other channels. Google also relies on the person's language settings and on their preferences: its help page gives the example of a person who understands two languages and may see an ad in a language different from the query. In a country where the Constitution recognizes this many languages, plan for that case. Your work therefore happens in the ads, keywords and pages written in each language, not in a campaign setting. Read the help page on language targeting for the detail.
Keep a structure by language: one campaign, or at least one ad group, for each. That structure lets you read costs and results language by language, which a mixed set does not, and the geographic area (the country, or regions) is what aims the ads at your audience. For each language you keep, the list below sums up the minimum to plan.
Google dominates search in India by a wide margin, and the other engines share small slices. The exact StatCounter figures are in the facts table at the top of the page. In practice, Google Ads is the main paid search channel: as a first approach, there is no need to budget for another engine, so measure what Google brings you first.
Mobile carries most page views, desktop the rest, and tablet almost nothing. The exact shares are in the same table. Test your landing pages on a phone before you spend: each script displays correctly, speed, a form that is easy to fill in with a thumb. A page that renders badly in the script of the target language wastes a click you paid for.
You do not have to target the whole country. Google Ads can target entire countries, areas inside a country and a radius around a place; depending on the country, those areas are regions, cities or postal codes. If your offer only covers a few cities or regions, target them instead of the whole country, and check in your account's location picker that each area you want exists. If you aim at almost the whole country, target it and exclude the exceptions: that is what Google's help advises in that case.
The “Presence” option keeps only people located in the area. The broader option, “Presence or interest”, adds people who have shown interest in the area. Google recommends it for search, but considers “Presence” better suited to a sector with strict targeting limits, or if you only want people located in the area. Revisit this choice alongside the section on ad policies if your sector is regulated.
A click's cost cannot be inferred from an average. We do not yet publish a country average, because we do not have a reliable measurement. A click's price depends on the keyword, the language and the competition: measure it with Keyword Planner set to India and the language you want, then with a small test budget.
Your account is served by one of two Google entities, and that decides the tax. According to Google Ads Help, the services are provided by Google Asia Pacific or by Google India Private Limited. GST, the Goods and Services Tax, applies to purchases. The facts table at the top of the page gives the rates, the role of the GSTIN number and the tax deducted at source. Google states that it cannot give tax advice: have your accountant validate these points. The detail is in the help page Taxes in your country, India section.
Enter the GSTIN before the first invoice: Google does not correct a finalized invoice. Google's help says it cannot modify or reissue an already finalized invoice for a tax ID change. It also states that the GSTIN must match the State of the billing address: otherwise, the invoice is treated as issued to an unregistered customer. For an agency-handled account, the address and the GSTIN must be those of the company that pays the invoices and claims the GST.
Tax deducted at source (TDS) adds a step. Google's help describes TDS certificates to send every quarter, and gives the current rate for advertising payments to Google India Private Limited, a rate that may change with regulation. This part concerns your accounting more than your campaign: warn your accountant before the first payment.
No regulatory surcharge is in force on ads served in India. Google used to apply a surcharge to ads served in India when the billing country was not India; it no longer applies. The facts table at the top of the page gives the detail. These surcharges vary from country to country and over time: reread the list of jurisdiction-specific surcharges before you set your budget.
Automatic card payments follow the Indian central bank's rules. According to Google's help, these rules require a recurring-payment authorization, called an e-mandate, and postpay is capped in India. If the primary card is not compliant, a charge can be declined and ads stop running. Google then recommends prepaying to keep the account in credit. Read the help page on payments in India before you add a card.
UPI is possible for prepayments, under certain conditions. According to Google Ads Help on payment methods, UPI is used for prepayments from the Google Ads app on Android. You need a billing address and a bank account in India, an account currency in rupees, an account on prepay and a bank account registered for UPI. If you plan to pay that way, choose the account currency before you create your campaigns.
Google does not allow advertising for online gambling in India. The Gambling and games policy only allows these ads in the countries it lists, with a certification. A type of online gambling that is not listed for a country can be neither certified nor advertised, and India has no entry in that list. Promotion of offline gambling is also prohibited there. “Social” casino games, with no real prize, remain possible with a specific certification.
Skill games and “fantasy sports” depend on local law. Google puts games without chance, such as chess, video games or fantasy sports, among the allowed games, unless local law considers them gambling or unlawful. In that case, they fall into the prohibited category. If your offer is close to those games, get local legal advice before you create the campaign, because Google's rule defers to the country's law.
Financial services require verification by Google, even toward people who are only looking for these services. To show financial services ads in India, including to Indian users who appear to be seeking them, the advertiser must be verified. It must show that an Indian regulator authorizes it or that it is exempt. Most advertisers first go through third-party verification, G2RS, then apply to Google with the code they receive. The regulators Google lists include the central bank, the securities regulator and the insurance regulator. The policy page, Financial Services Verification for India, details the process.
An advertiser from another sector can be affected too. Google asks for the same process from advertisers that do not sell financial services but have a compelling reason to target people who are seeking them, such as search engines or e-commerce platforms. Resellers, affiliates and agencies approved by a verified advertiser do not need to go through G2RS. If your keywords touch on credit, insurance or investment, spot them before launch to find out whether the rule applies to you.
For other sectors, the advertiser must know the local rules of every targeted location. The policy on financial products and services says it: the advertiser is expected to research local regulations for any location its ads target. Do the same for your sector before you spend, with local advice if the risk is real.
Two central government holidays fall a few weeks apart in autumn: Dussehra, then Diwali. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) lists them among the holidays for central government offices in Delhi; the dates are in the facts table at the top of the page. The same document notes that, in some States, Diwali is celebrated a day earlier, on Naraka Chaturdasi.
These dates change from one year to the next. The DoPT publishes one list per year: reread the official list rather than copying old dates. A holiday date is not a search peak date: check in Google Trends, set to India, when your own searches rise before you decide to raise a budget.
The calendar is not the same everywhere in the country. According to the same document, central government offices located outside Delhi observe some holidays as compulsory and choose others from an optional list. If your offer is regional, look in Google Trends, set to the area you target, at when your searches rise, instead of assuming that Delhi's calendar holds for everyone.
A keyword that pays off in another country guarantees nothing on Indian Google. Start by opening the results page for each keyword, in your target's language: ads, Shopping ads, comparison pages or articles show what Google ties to that search. Our guide to search intent explains how to read that page, and the one on choosing keywords how to build the starting list.
Should I Bid does that reading for you, on Indian Google. The intent analysis reads the Google results page for the country and the language you choose, ads included, then an AI reads the pages that rank there and weighs them against what your company sells. For each keyword you get a Bid, Test or Skip verdict, with the reason. It is a snapshot of the page at the time of the analysis: it gives neither search volume nor click price.
Once the campaign is live, reread the real queries. The search terms report lists what people typed before they clicked. Our wasted spend calculator turns the share of those searches with no buying intent into a monthly and a yearly amount, and the page Should you bid on a keyword? compares ways to decide.
Create a campaign dedicated to India, target the country or the areas where you deliver, then keep your customers' languages among those Google Ads recognizes, with one campaign or ad group per language. Rebuild your keywords in each language, write ads and landing pages in the same language, enter the GSTIN and plan a payment method that fits the central bank's rules. The detailed steps are higher up on this page.
Your customers' languages, among the ones Google Ads recognizes: English and ten Indian languages, listed in the facts table at the top of the page. Several languages of the Constitution, including Assamese, Odia and Nepali, are not on it, and an ad or a page in an unsupported language is not allowed. Google matches Search ads on their language: write each ad in the target language.
The account is served by Google Asia Pacific or by Google India Private Limited, and GST applies to purchases. The GSTIN number matters for the tax and for the billing address, and a finalized invoice cannot be corrected. Tax deducted at source may be added. The rates are in the facts table at the top of the page; have your accountant validate it all.
Online gambling, no: India is not on the list of countries where Google allows these ads. Financial services, yes, but only after verification by Google, often preceded by third-party verification through G2RS. It also applies to some advertisers who target financial searches without selling those services. Read the full rules before you spend.
It depends on your offer. Google Ads targets entire countries, areas inside a country and a radius around a place. If you only serve a few cities or regions, target them. If you cover almost the whole country, target it and exclude the exceptions. Either way, open your account's location picker to check that the areas you want exist.
Yes. The analysis reads the Google results page for the country and the language you choose, among 50 countries, then gives each keyword a Bid, Test or Skip verdict with the reason. It uses one credit per keyword: see the pricing. It gives neither search volume nor cost per click, which are measured in Keyword Planner.