BMC notifies new outdoor advertising policy for Mumbai hoardings and digital OOH

New Delhi: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has unveiled a new outdoor advertising policy that rewrites the rules for hoardings and digital screens in the city, capping sizes, tightening safety norms and sharply regulating digital OOH brightness and operating hours.

The “Policy Guidelines for Display of Outdoor Advertisement 2025”, notified this week, are the first major overhaul since the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse and are expected to significantly reshape media supply, pricing and formats across India’s most valuable out-of-home (OOH) market.

At the heart of the new framework is a clear safety-led push. Hoardings above a certain size will no longer be permitted anywhere in the city, replacing the earlier regime where maximum sizes varied by zone. A standard operating procedure for structural stability has been introduced, and any site near high-tension power lines will now require a specific no-objection certificate (NOC) from the concerned electricity transmission company.

Permissions will also be more tightly managed. A hoarding permit will lapse three months after its expiry date, against the earlier six-month grace window, reducing the scope for long-running, non-compliant displays. BMC is transitioning the entire permission and renewal process to an online system, with rejections on technical grounds to be reviewed at the Joint/Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special) level to reduce delays.

The guidelines clamp down on clutter in sensitive public spaces. New hoardings on footpaths and on building terraces are barred, and sites on key corridors such as the Eastern and Western Express Highways will not be renewed in line with highway authority directions. At the same time, the policy allows for a range of formats, including single, back-to-back, V-shaped, L-shaped and other multi-face structures, subject to structural norms and traffic police clearances.

Digital OOH is a major focus area. The policy “promotes” digital advertising in controlled environments, allowing LED screens at malls, multiplexes, shopping complexes, commercial buildings and petrol pumps.

However, it introduces stricter rules on illumination and distraction: all illuminated or digital hoardings will require an NOC from the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), must adhere to prescribed luminance ratios, and cannot operate beyond specified night-time cut-off hours. Flickering or rapidly changing content that could distract motorists is effectively discouraged, and automatic timers have been mandated to ensure shut-off.

On the commercial side, the BMC has tightened compliance and recovery levers. A formal blacklisting regime has been created for advertisers and permit holders with frequent violations, particularly for non-payment of fees. Hoardings and media on BMC premises will continue to be allotted through e-tenders, backed by a bank guarantee equivalent to one year’s fee and mandatory insurance cover. Revenue-sharing norms for hoardings on land controlled by other authorities, such as MMRDA and MSRDC have also been revised, with the corporation’s share now fixed at 30%.

For the OOH ecosystem, the new policy is a mixed bag: it preserves large-format visibility within the new size ceiling and opens up more organised digital inventory in private commercial spaces, but simultaneously tightens structural, safety and illumination rules and reduces flexibility on renewals.

Media owners and brands will now have to recalibrate site portfolios, digital content strategies and long-term contracts in Mumbai, even as they await further clarifications and the rollout of the promised single-window online approval system.