How to Write a Press Release in India: Format, Template and Example

To write a press release in India, put the news in a one-line headline, open with a dateline such as “MUMBAI, India, 29 September 2026”, answer who, what, where, when and how much in the first paragraph, add one quote from a named spokesperson, and close with a short company boilerplate and a reachable media contact. Keep it between 300 and 500 words, write figures in crore and lakh with the financial year, and prepare Hindi or regional versions from the final English text. The fill-in template and annotated example below show every part in order.

Who actually reads your press release in India

Before choosing a single word, picture the person on the other end. In India, a release typically lands with one of four readers: a desk editor at a news agency such as PTI, IANS or ANI; a reporter on a sector beat at a business paper such as The Economic Times, Mint or Business Standard; a city or district reporter at a regional daily; or an editor at an online publication that republishes releases. Each of them receives far more material than they can use, and many will first see your text as an email preview or a forwarded message on a phone.

That shapes everything. A national business reporter wants a number and a reason. A district reporter wants the local name: the town, the plant, the jobs created there. An online editor wants clean copy that needs no fixing. A good Indian release serves all three by being factual, specific about place, and tidy enough to publish with minimal editing. If you are still deciding which outlets to target, our guide on getting media coverage in India explains how these desks differ.

Is your announcement news?

Ask one question: what changed? A launch with a price, a round of funding with an amount, a factory that now employs 200 more people, a certificate that allows exports, a tie-up with named obligations on both sides. Each of those is a change. “We are committed to quality” is not, and neither is a festive greeting, a founder’s opinion piece or a website refresh. If you cannot name the change in one sentence, the release is not ready.

The standard Indian press release format at a glance

Part	What it contains	Indian convention
Release line	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, or an embargo line	Embargo in IST: “EMBARGOED UNTIL 10:00 IST, 1 October 2026”
Headline	Company + verb + the change, ideally with a number	Rupee figure in crore or lakh if money is involved
Sub-headline	One supporting fact (optional)	Often the location or scale
Dateline	City, country, date	NAGPUR, India, 29 September 2026
Lead paragraph	Who, what, where, when, why, how much	Two or three sentences, under about 60 words
Body	Detail, context, what happens next	Financial year stated; sources named for any market data
Quote	One named person with designation	Approved in writing by the speaker
Boilerplate	“About the company” in 50 to 80 words	Founding year, headquarters city, scale
Media contact	Name, designation, email, phone	+91 mobile or landline with STD code; working hours in IST
End mark	### or -ENDS-	Both are understood by Indian desks

Headline and sub-headline

A headline should let the reader repeat your news to someone else without opening the release. Aim for 8 to 14 words, start with the company name, and use a present-tense verb: launches, raises, opens, signs, wins, receives. Put the most important number in if there is one. Title case and sentence case are both acceptable in India; pick one and keep it.

Vague headline	Specific headline
A New Era in Healthcare for Uttar Pradesh	Prayas Diagnostics Opens 12 Sample Collection Centres in Lucknow
Brand X Joins Hands With Leading Institute	Brand X Signs Three-Year MoU With Nashik Polytechnic to Train 600 Students
Startup Secures Major Investment	Kisan Kart Raises Rs 12 Crore Seed Round Led by Malabar Ventures

The sub-headline is optional. Use it for one fact that did not fit, such as “The centres add home collection in 40 pin codes across the city”. Never repeat the headline in different words.

The dateline, and why Indian desks care about it

The dateline tells an editor where and when the news originates. In Indian English, write the city in capitals, then the country, then the date as day, month, year, followed by an en dash: CHENNAI, India, 29 September 2026 –. The city should be where the event happens, not automatically your registered office. A Pune company opening a plant in Sanand should date its release from Ahmedabad or Sanand, because that is what the Gujarat desks search for.

If the news must not appear before a set time, replace FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE with an embargo line that states the hour and the time zone in IST. This matters when a release goes to international outlets that work in other time zones, and it matters most for listed companies whose news can move share prices.

Writing the lead paragraph

The lead is the paragraph most likely to be copied into a news report unchanged, so treat it as the story itself. In two or three sentences, cover who did what, where, when, and why it matters, and add “how much” whenever money, people or capacity are involved. Indian business readers expect a rupee figure; if there is one, it belongs here, not in paragraph four.

A quick test: cover everything below the lead with your hand. If a reporter could file a 60-word brief from what remains, the lead works. If they would need to phone you to find out the amount or the city, move that fact up.

The body: facts, figures and Indian number style

Use one or two short body paragraphs for supporting facts, most important first: numbers, timelines, the background that explains why now, and what happens next. Every figure should be either your own data you would stand behind or attributed to a named source such as a ministry, regulator or research firm. Avoid “India’s first”, “No. 1” and “largest” unless you can show a document that proves it; Indian editors see these claims daily and delete them by reflex.

A few conventions keep Indian copy clean:

• Currency: choose “Rs”, “INR” or the rupee symbol and use it the same way throughout.
• Units: crore and lakh for domestic readers; if you add a dollar figure for foreign media, give it once in brackets with the conversion date.
• Financial year: “FY 2025-26” or “the year ended 31 March 2026”, never “last year”.
• Dates: day month year, written out (“1 October 2026”) to avoid confusion between 10/01 and 01/10.
• Spelling: Indian newspapers largely follow British spelling (programme, organisation, centre), so match it.
• Abbreviations: expand MSME, DPIIT, FSSAI and similar terms at first mention.

Examples of how these rules play out across different announcement types, from funding to CSR, are collected in our press release samples for Indian businesses.

Quotes that Indian reporters will use

A reporter uses a quote when it tells readers something the facts alone cannot: the reason behind a decision, the problem that forced it, or a specific expectation. Use one quote, from the most senior person who genuinely knows the subject, with full name and designation. If a partner organisation is involved, a second short quote from them is acceptable; three or more reads like a felicitation function.

Compare two quotes for the same clinic opening:

• Unusable: “We are proud to serve the people of Lucknow and remain committed to excellence in healthcare.”
• Usable: “Patients in Gomti Nagar were travelling 40 minutes to give a blood sample, and a third of home-collection requests came from areas we could not reach by 9 am.”

Two more rules. First, get the speaker’s written approval on the exact wording, since the quote is attributed to them personally. Second, if you issue a Hindi or regional version, have the speaker approve the translated quote too, because a translated quote is still a quote.

On names, follow the person’s own preference, including initials (K. Ramesh) or single names, and keep it consistent. Government releases on PIB use honorifics such as “Shri”; a private company release does not need them, and “Dr” is the only title most corporate releases keep.

The boilerplate

The boilerplate is the fixed “About” paragraph at the end. Write it once, get it approved, and reuse it on every release until something changes. It should say what the company does in plain words, when it was founded, where it is headquartered, and one or two measures of scale such as customers, outlets, employees or states served. Recognitions that a reporter can verify, such as DPIIT startup recognition or a listing on NSE or BSE, can be added in one clause.

About [Company Name]

[Company Name] [does what, for whom, in plain words]. Founded in [year] and headquartered in [city], the company [operates X plants / serves X customers / has X outlets] across [states or cities] and employs [number] people. [Optional: one verifiable recognition or listing detail.] More information: [website].

Leave out GST numbers, CIN, mission statements and lists of every award. They belong on your website.

The media contact block

Name a person who will actually answer. Give their designation, a direct email and a phone number in +91 format, and say when they can be reached, for example “available 9:30 am to 7 pm IST”. If the release is going to regional desks, add whether the contact can speak Hindi, Marathi, Tamil or another language; a reporter who can conduct the interview in their own language is more likely to follow up. Brief this person before distribution so they know the figures and can send photographs on request.

How long an Indian press release should be

Announcement	Typical length	Why
Store, office or branch opening	250 to 400 words	Few facts; local detail matters more than length
Product or service launch	350 to 500 words	Price, availability and specifications need space
Funding round	350 to 550 words	Investors, amount, use of funds and traction figures
MoU or partnership	300 to 500 words	Each party’s obligations should be spelt out
Quarterly results (listed company)	500 to 800 words	Tables of figures; must match the exchange filing

These are working ranges, not rules. If every sentence carries a fact, a longer release is fine; if you are adding adjectives to reach a length, stop.

Hindi and regional language versions

A large share of India’s newspaper readership is in Hindi and regional languages, and many district reporters would rather rewrite from a release in their own language. Agencies run dedicated Indian-language services too: PTI’s Hindi service is Bhasha, and UNI runs Univarta. A translated version can therefore widen pickup for news with a local angle.

Practical points that save trouble:

1. Translate from the final English text. Changing figures in one version and not the other is the most common error.
2. Use Unicode fonts. Text typed in legacy fonts such as Kruti Dev can turn into unreadable characters on the recipient’s system.
3. Translate, do not transliterate. “Launch kiya gaya” in Roman script helps nobody; write proper Hindi, Marathi or Tamil.
4. Keep brand and product names as registered, and write them in the target script only if that is how your brand appears locally.
5. Localise the dateline, for example लखनऊ, 29 सितंबर 2026, and keep figures in the lakh-crore system.
6. Get a native speaker to proofread, and the spokesperson to approve the translated quote.

Our detailed guide on writing press releases in Hindi and regional languages covers translation checks and which languages suit which states.

Extra rules for listed companies

If your shares trade on NSE or BSE, a press release is not your first disclosure. Under Regulation 30 of SEBI’s Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) Regulations, material events must be reported to the stock exchanges within set limits: 30 minutes of a board meeting ending for board decisions, 12 hours for events originating within the company, and 24 hours for events originating outside it, following the 2023 amendments. In practice, the exchange filing goes first or at the same moment, and the release must not contain any material figure missing from the filing. Your company secretary should sign off before distribution.

Fill-in press release template for India

Copy this block into your document and replace everything in square brackets. Delete any line you do not need.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [or: EMBARGOED UNTIL [hh:mm] IST, [day month year]]

[Company Name] [Present-Tense Verb] [The Change, With Number If Possible]

[Optional sub-headline: one fact about scale, place or timing]

[CITY], India, [day month year] – [Company Name], [a short description of the company], [what it did], [where], [when]. [One sentence on the consequence: what this allows, changes or costs, with the rupee figure if any.]

[Detail paragraph: numbers, capacity, locations, dates, financial year, next steps. Attribute any market data to a named source.]

“[Quote giving a reason, a problem solved or a specific expectation],” said [Full Name], [Designation], [Company Name]. “[Optional second sentence with a concrete forward-looking detail.]”

[Optional: availability, pricing, eligibility, or a second short quote from a partner.]

About [Company Name]

[What it does. Founded in [year], headquartered in [city], [scale], [employees].] [Website]

Media Contact

[Full Name], [Designation]

[Direct email] | [+91 phone] | Available [hours] IST | Languages: [English, Hindi, …]

###

For announcement-specific versions, see our guides to writing a product launch press release and announcing a funding round in India.

Annotated example

The release below is fictional. The company, people and figures are invented to show the template in use, and the numbered notes explain each choice.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Prayas Diagnostics Opens 12 Sample Collection Centres in Lucknow [1]

The centres extend 7 am home collection to 40 more pin codes in the city [2]

LUCKNOW, India, 29 September 2026 – [3] Prayas Diagnostics, a pathology laboratory chain in Uttar Pradesh, today opened 12 sample collection centres across Lucknow, including Gomti Nagar, Aliganj and Alambagh. The Rs 3.5 crore expansion adds 85 jobs and brings early-morning home collection to 40 additional pin codes. [4]

The centres will send samples to the company’s central laboratory in Hazratganj, which processed about 9.6 lakh tests in FY 2025-26. Prayas Diagnostics plans to open a further eight centres in Kanpur by March 2027. [5]

“Patients in Gomti Nagar were travelling 40 minutes to give a blood sample, and a third of home-collection requests came from areas we could not reach by 9 am,” said Dr Ritu Srivastava, Medical Director of Prayas Diagnostics. “Fasting tests need an early slot, so distance was deciding who got tested on time.” [6]

About Prayas Diagnostics [7]

Prayas Diagnostics runs pathology laboratories and collection centres in Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Lucknow, it operates 31 centres and employs 420 people.

Media Contact [8]

Aman Tiwari, Communications Manager

aman.tiwari@example.com | +91 522 496 0744 | Available 9:30 am to 7 pm IST | English, Hindi

###

1. Headline: company, verb, number and city in ten words. No adjectives.
2. Sub-headline: adds the consumer benefit with a specific time and a count, rather than repeating the headline.
3. Dateline: Indian order, city in capitals, day-month-year.
4. Lead: who, what, where, when and how much, plus jobs, which regional desks value.
5. Body: one supporting figure tied to a financial year, then what comes next.
6. Quote: a named doctor explains the problem with a distance and a time, which a health reporter can use directly.
7. Boilerplate: four facts, no slogans.
8. Contact: named person, direct line with STD code, hours in IST and languages spoken.

Common mistakes Indian editors flag

• Brochure copy pasted in. Product benefits written for customers do not belong in a news release.
• Unprovable firsts. “India’s first” and “No. 1” without evidence are deleted or, worse, lead to the whole release being ignored.
• Mixed number systems. Crore in one paragraph and million in the next forces the editor to check every figure.
• A release only as a PDF or image. Desks copy text; paste it into the email body or submission form.
• “A spokesperson said”. An unnamed quote has little value; name the person.
• Hinglish in formal copy. Keep the English release in standard English and the Hindi version in standard Hindi.
• Link stuffing. One link to your website is normal; a paragraph of keyword links reads as SEO, not news.

Our review desk sees these every week; the full list is in why press releases get rejected.

After the release is written

Read the headline alone, then the lead alone, and check that each still makes sense. Match every figure against your source documents, confirm the quote is approved, and send a test copy to a colleague on a phone to see how it looks in a small preview. Then decide where it goes: email to a short list of relevant reporters, a newswire, or both. The Press Information Bureau’s release archive is a useful model of plain, factual Indian release writing, and agencies such as Press Trust of India show how releases are turned into news copy. For costs and what each option delivers, read press release distribution in India: pricing and what to expect.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the format of a press release in India?

Release line, headline, optional sub-headline, dateline (CITY, India, day month year), a lead paragraph with the core facts, one or two body paragraphs, a quote from a named person, an “About the company” boilerplate and a media contact with a +91 number. End with ### or -ENDS-.

How do I write the date in an Indian press release?

Write it as day, month, year in words and numerals, for example 29 September 2026, and put it after the city and country in the dateline. Avoid numeric formats such as 09/10/2026, which Indian and American readers interpret differently.

Should I write “Rs”, “INR” or use the rupee symbol?

Any of the three is acceptable. What matters is using one throughout the release. Some email systems and older software display the rupee symbol incorrectly, so “Rs” or “INR” is the safer choice for plain-text distribution.

Can I send the same press release in English and Hindi?

Yes. Send them as two separate releases, each complete, to the relevant desks. Translate from the approved English version and have the spokesperson approve the Hindi quote.

How many quotes should a press release have?

One is usually enough. Add a second only when a partner, investor or government body is part of the news and has something specific to add.

Can a small business or MSME issue a press release?

Yes. Size does not matter as much as having a real change to report, such as a new unit, a certification or an export order. Local and trade media regularly cover small firms when the release gives them specific, local facts.

Should a listed company send its press release before filing with the exchange?

No. Material information should reach the stock exchange first or at the same time, within the Regulation 30 time limits. Check with your company secretary.

Your next step

Use the template above for your next announcement, compare it against the annotated example, and keep your boilerplate and contact block saved for reuse. When your draft is ready, you can submit it to Concierge Press Wire for an editorial check before publication.