Digital
Honour roll grows as adtech awards double down on digital excellence
MUMBAI: When the industry’s brightest innovations walk into a room, they deserve a spotlight and ad:tech HONOURS 2026 is rolling out one big enough to light up the entire marketing landscape.
After a breakthrough debut, the awards return next year with a sharper focus, a bigger canvas, and a bold ambition: to become the definitive scoreboard for technology-driven excellence in Indian marketing. Organised in partnership with the International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter, the 2026 edition aims to reward the most transformative uses of Martech, Adtech, data, platforms, and creative innovation reshaping how brands think, build, and perform.
And this time, they’re taking centre stage literally. Recognising the rising prestige of the awards, the ceremony will now kick off day one of ad:tech New Delhi, placing the celebration right at the heart of India’s most influential marketing and technology gathering.
If the debut edition set expectations, 2026 smashes the ceiling. The awards have expanded from 10 to 22 categories, a sweeping new framework reflecting a marketing ecosystem where boundaries blur and technology accelerates everything. The broadened slate covers:
● Martech & Adtech innovation
● Content ecosystems and commerce
● Platform ingenuity
● Creator-led excellence
● AI, data, and performance marketing breakthroughs
The intent is clear: scale the recognition to match the industry’s evolving complexity, rewarding brands, agencies, platforms, publishers, creators, and tech enablers that push the discipline forward.
“Expanding the awards from 10 to 22 categories reflects how rapidly new-age platforms, tools, and solutions are redefining modern marketing,” said ad:tech India country head Jaswant Singh. “HONOURS 2026 captures this evolution acknowledging innovation that drives real business impact.”
The first edition already laid down a solid foundation, attracting strong participation across the ecosystem. Winners in 2025 including The Trade Desk, ARM Worldwide, Publicis, Social Beat, Tyroo, Trackier and others showcased measurable impact, creative use of platforms, and technology-led results. Their performance shaped the expanded framework for 2026, raising the bar for what modern marketing excellence should look like.
For IAA, the collaboration continues to be anchored in a shared mission. “Our partnership with ad:tech reflects our commitment to elevating India’s marketing ecosystem,” said IAA India Chapter president Abhishek Karnani. “As we step into the second edition of HONOURS, we are proud to strengthen this platform that champions innovation, collaboration, and long-term industry growth.”
The awards are designed to reward more than creativity; they recognise true business impact, the kind that moves metrics, markets, and mindsets. The judging philosophy focuses on technology application, innovation, strategic clarity, and measurable effectiveness across the full value chain.
The ad:tech HONOURS 2026 ceremony will bring together CMOs, founders, creators, platform leaders, and tech innovators for a night dedicated to celebrating breakthrough work.
Key details:
● Nominations: Now open
● Honours Night: 18 March 2026
● Venue: Yashobhoomi Convention Centre (IICC Dwarka), New Delhi
● Drinks reception: From 6 pm
● Access: Every shortlisted entry gets two complimentary passes; ad:tech 2026 VIP Pass holders also gain entry
With the spotlight shifting to Day One, 22 categories ready to spotlight India’s best, and a platform designed for the future of marketing, HONOURS 2026 isn’t just returning, it’s levelling up.
For more information please visit www.iaaindiachapter.org
Digital
Govt tightens the screws on AI content with sharper IT rules
New norms bring labelling mandates and faster compliance timelines for platforms
NEW DELHI: Govt has moved sharply to police the fast-expanding world of AI content, amending its IT rules to formally regulate synthetically generated media and slash takedown timelines to as little as two hours.
The Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) notified the changes on February 10, with the new regime set to kick in from February 20, 2026. The amendments pull AI-generated content squarely into India’s intermediary rulebook, widening due-diligence, takedown and enforcement obligations for digital platforms.
At the heart of the change is a legal clarification: “information” used for unlawful acts now explicitly includes synthetically generated material. In effect, AI-made content will be treated on par with any other potentially unlawful information under the IT Rules.
Platforms must also step up user warnings. Intermediaries are now required to remind users at least once every three months that violating platform rules or user agreements can trigger immediate suspension, termination, content removal or all three. Users must also be warned that unlawful activity could invite penalties under applicable laws.
Offences requiring mandatory reporting, including those under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, must be reported to authorities.
AI-generated content defined
The amendments introduce the term “synthetically generated information”, covering audio-visual material that is artificially or algorithmically created, modified or altered using computer resources in a way that appears real and could be perceived as indistinguishable from an actual person or real-world event.
However, routine and good-faith uses are carved out. Editing, formatting, transcription, translation, accessibility features, educational or training materials and research outputs are excluded so long as they do not create false or misleading electronic records.
Mandatory labelling and metadata
Intermediaries enabling AI content creation or sharing must ensure clear and prominent labelling of such material as synthetically generated. Where technically feasible, the content must carry embedded, persistent metadata or provenance markers, including unique identifiers linking it to the generating computer resource.
Platforms are barred from allowing the removal or tampering of these labels or metadata, a move aimed at preserving traceability.
Fresh duties for social media firms
Significant social media intermediaries face tighter obligations. Users must be required to declare whether their content is AI-generated before upload or publication. Platforms must deploy technical and automated tools to verify these declarations.
Once confirmed as AI-generated, the content must carry a clear and prominent disclosure flagging its synthetic nature.
The takedown clock speeds up
The most dramatic shift lies in timelines. The compliance window for lawful takedown orders has been cut from 36 hours to just 3 hours. Grievance redressal timelines have been halved from 15 days to 7.
For urgent complaints, the response window shrinks from 72 hours to 36. In certain specified cases, intermediaries must now act within 2 hours, down from 24.
Platforms are required to act swiftly once aware of violations involving synthetic media, whether through complaints or their own detection. Measures can include disabling access, suspending accounts and reporting matters to authorities where legally required.
Importantly, the government has clarified that removing or disabling access to synthetic content in line with these rules will not jeopardise safe-harbour protection under Section 79(2) of the IT Act.
The message is unmistakable. As AI blurs the line between real and fabricated, the state is racing to keep pace. For platforms, the era of leisurely compliance is over. In India’s digital marketplace, synthetic content now comes with very real consequences.
