Influencer contracts: what to check before you sign

Before you sign an influencer contract, check eight things: exactly what you must deliver, how many rounds of changes the brand gets, when and how you are paid, what the brand may do with your content and for how long, whether you may work with competitors, what happens if the brand cancels, how either side can end the deal, and who is responsible for the claims and labels in the post. If any of these is missing, ask for it in writing before you film anything.

This is general information, not legal advice. The legal points below come from the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the Copyright Act, 1957 and ASCI’s influencer guidelines, as published on their official pages and read in October 2026. For a large deal, an unusual clause or a long exclusivity, pay a lawyer to read the contract, and ask a chartered accountant about tax.

Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act says that agreements are contracts when they are made with free consent, between parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object. It does not by itself demand a written document, but a written one is how you prove what was promised. Chats and voice notes can be hard to pin down, so ask for the terms in a document or a single email that both sides confirm.

Check who the other party is. A brand’s agency may sign on the brand’s behalf, and the company named in the contract should be the one that pays you. Check that your own name, address and bank details are right. Under section 11 of the same Act, a person must be of the age of majority to be competent to contract, so if you are under 18, ask a parent or guardian and a lawyer how to proceed rather than signing alone.

“One Reel” is not a deliverable. “One Reel of 20 to 30 seconds, filmed vertically, posted on your Instagram feed and shared to Stories on two days, with the brand’s product visible in the first five seconds” is. The more precise the list, the fewer arguments you will have later. Write down the number of pieces, the length, the platforms, the posting dates and any compulsory elements such as a hashtag, a link or a mention.

Approval is where unpaid hours disappear. Ask for a fixed number of revision rounds, usually one or two, and a deadline for the brand to reply, with a rule for what happens if they do not. One fix you can ask for is that silence for a set number of days counts as approval. Also define what counts as a revision: changing a caption is a revision, but a new concept or a full reshoot is new work and should cost extra. Ask whether the brand approves a script before filming or only the finished video, because changes after filming are the costly ones.

Tip: Put the posting date and the approval deadline in the same clause. If the brand approves late, your posting date should move with it, not become your fault.

Many creators check the fee and skip the rest of the payment clause. Check these points:

• The amount and what it covers: is it per piece, for the whole campaign, and does it include usage rights?
• Tax: does the fee include or exclude GST, and who deals with tax deducted at source? I have not verified the rules for your case, so ask a chartered accountant. Our guides to GST and income tax for creators explain the principles.
• The due date, counted from something you can prove: for example “within 15 days of the invoice date” rather than “after the campaign ends”. The number of days is for you to negotiate, and I have no verified figure for what is typical.
• An advance or milestones for larger work, such as a share before filming and the rest on posting. It limits your risk if the brand disappears.
• What happens when a payment is late: a reminder period, a late fee or the right to take the post down.
• How you will be paid: bank transfer is the usual route for brand fees, and an invoice should be part of the process. Our guide to taking UPI payments covers the limits of UPI for larger sums.

Do not accept “exposure”, a promise of future work, or performance-based pay with no stated floor as the whole payment. A commission on sales can be a fair extra, but it should sit on top of a fee for your work, not replace it, unless you have chosen an affiliate arrangement on purpose.

This clause decides what the brand can do with the video you made. Posting it on your account is one thing. Running it as an advertisement, putting it on their website, or using it in a shop display is a different use, and it is worth more. Instagram’s Help Center says branded content ads are now called partnership ads, the format in which a brand runs a creator’s post as an ad, so expect brands to ask for ad use. Price them separately from the post itself.

The Copyright Act, 1957 makes the wording matter. Under section 19, an assignment of copyright is valid only if it is in writing and signed. It must identify the work, specify the rights assigned and their duration and territorial extent, and state the royalty or other consideration payable. If the period is not stated, it is deemed to be five years, and if the territory is not stated, it is presumed to be India. Section 30 says a licence must also be in writing, and section 30A applies the rules of section 19 to licences with necessary adaptations. In plain terms: a contract that says “all rights” with no period or place is a weak and risky document for both sides, so name them.

Ownership and licence are not the same. In most creator deals you keep ownership and the brand gets a licence for specific uses. If a contract asks you to assign the copyright in your video outright, ask what you are being paid for it, for how long it applies and whether you can still show the work in your portfolio.

Exclusivity means you agree not to work with competitors for a time. Ask four questions: which category is covered (“protein bars” is narrower than “food”), how long it lasts, whether it starts at signing or at the first post, and whether you are paid extra for it. A clause that blocks every brand in your niche for a year can cost you more than the fee is worth.

Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act says every agreement by which anyone is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind is, to that extent, void. How that applies to a short brand deal with an exclusivity clause is a question for a lawyer, so do not assume a clause is unenforceable and do not assume it is fine. A better plan is to negotiate it down to a narrow category and a short period before you sign.

A kill fee is the amount the brand pays if it cancels after you have started. Without one, a brand can drop the campaign after you have spent a week on it. Ask for payment for the work done to that point, and a fixed share of the fee, for example half once filming has begun. The share is for you to negotiate.

Be careful with large penalty clauses in either direction. Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act says that when a sum is named in a contract as payable on breach, the party complaining of the breach is entitled to reasonable compensation not exceeding the amount named, whether or not actual loss is proved. So the named sum is a ceiling, and a court decides what is reasonable. Do not count on collecting a huge figure just because it is written down.

• Notice: how many days either side must give to end the deal.
• Payment on termination: what you receive for work already delivered.
• Live posts: must the post stay up for a fixed number of days, and can the brand ask you to delete it? Say so.
• Both-way rights: if the brand may end the deal for any reason, you should have a way out too.

ASCI’s influencer guidelines state that responsibility for disclosure, and for the content of the advertisement, lies with the advertiser and also with the influencer. Where there is a material connection, the advertiser must ensure the post is in line with the ASCI code and the influencer is responsible for making the required disclosures. The advertiser may ask the influencer to edit or delete a post or its label to comply. The guidelines also advise influencers to satisfy themselves that the advertiser can substantiate the claims made in the advertisement.

So your contract should do three things. It should say that the post will carry a label from ASCI’s accepted list, and it should not contain any clause that asks you to hide it. It should say who supplies and approves the claims you will make, with proof available on request. And it should be wary of indemnity clauses, which make you pay the brand’s losses, unless they are limited to your own breaches and capped. Our guide to disclosure rules in India lists the labels and the minimum time they must stay on screen.

• The right company is named, with your correct legal name and bank details.
• Deliverables, platforms and dates are specific.
• Revision rounds and the approval deadline are written down.
• The fee, the tax treatment and the payment date are clear, and an advance or milestones apply to big work.
• Usage has a purpose, a period and a place, and paid ads are priced separately.
• Exclusivity is narrow, short and paid for.
• A kill fee and a notice period exist.
• The label and the claims are covered.
• You kept the signed copy, the emails and every version you were sent.