How to Get Brand Deals on Instagram in India (2026 Guide)
Getting your first brand deal on Instagram in India comes down to six things: a clear niche, a media kit, the right price, a tight pitch, proper disclosure, and a clean way to get paid. You don't need a big following to start — here's how to do each step in 2026.
1. Pick a clear niche brands can search for
Brands hire creators by category — fashion, beauty, food, fitness, tech, travel, finance. The tighter your niche, the easier you are to find and the more engaged your audience, which is what brands actually pay for.
You don't need a huge following. On Hypee there is no follower minimum, and in October 2026 more than 350 creators with under 1,000 followers had joined and connected their Instagram. Small accounts usually start with barter deals and move to paid ones as their results grow.
2. Build a media kit before you pitch
A media kit is a one-page summary of who you are, your audience, your engagement, your best content and your rates. It's the single most important asset for landing deals — brands won't chase you for screenshots.
If you don't want to design one, Hypee builds a media kit automatically from your connected Instagram account and keeps the stats current, so you can share one link.
How to make an Instagram media kit →Free Instagram media kit maker →
3. Know your rates
Underpricing is the most common mistake. Rates depend on follower count, engagement, niche and deliverable (Reel, story, feed post). Across 452 Indian creators who list Reel rates on Hypee, the median asking rate was ₹2,000 for nano creators (1K–10K followers) and ₹5,000 for micro creators (10K–50K).
Always quote per deliverable, not a vague monthly figure, and charge extra if the brand wants to run your content as an ad.
4. Get discovered — and pitch the rest
There are two paths to deals: inbound (brands find you) and outbound (you pitch brands). Do both.
For inbound, list yourself on a creator marketplace so brands searching your niche and city can find your media kit. For outbound, send a short, specific pitch: who you are, one relevant stat, and one concrete idea for their product.
- • List on a marketplace like Hypee so brands discover you by niche and city.
- • Keep outbound pitches under 120 words with one tailored content idea.
- • Follow up once after 4–5 days — a polite follow-up is often what gets a reply.
5. Decide between paid and barter deals
A paid deal pays a cash fee. A barter deal pays in product or service instead. Barter is a reasonable way to build a portfolio early, as long as the product's value is close to your rate and the deliverables are small. Once brands are seeing results from your posts, ask for cash or barter plus cash.
6. Disclose every sponsored post
India's advertising regulator, ASCI, asks creators to disclose any material connection with a brand — and that includes free products and barters, not only cash. Use one of the permitted labels (#ad, #collab, #promo, #sponsored or #partnership) in the first two lines of the caption, or on the video itself if there's no caption.
7. Manage the deal and get paid cleanly
Confirm scope, deliverables, timeline, usage rights and payment terms in writing before you create anything.
On Hypee, deals are agreed in chat and brands pay you directly by UPI or bank transfer. Both sides record the payment on the collaboration, you can raise an invoice from Hypee, and Hypee takes 0% commission — you keep 100% of what you're paid.