If you want to trace where India’s advertising money is heading, look no further than the influencer. In a media landscape cluttered with sponsored content and brand partnerships, influencer marketing has moved from being a novelty to a necessity. According to an EY report, India’s influencer marketing sector is projected to reach ₹3,375 crore by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 18%. But here’s the real question: beyond visibility and engagement, is it delivering measurable impact?

Turns out, it is, but not always in ways brands originally expected.

A report by Kantar says influencer content is now among the top three formats on ad equity in India, ranking just behind e-commerce and online display ads. “Influencer recommendations are more trusted, therefore more influential than traditional ads,” the report says. And the numbers say that influencer content sees 2.2x better skip time and 1.4x higher visibility duration than typical ads. However, while they’re excellent at building brand differentiation, their impact on long-term brand relevance still lags behind.

This shifting return on investment (ROI) logic is something brands are responding to in real time.

Take Bata, for instance. The 90-year-old footwear major has quietly scaled up its influencer play over the last few years. Gunjan Shah, CEO of Bata India, says the brand collaborated with almost 1,000 influencers, from nano to macro levels, during the last festive season alone. “Traditional social media used to be brand-led. Now it’s collaborative. We work with creators who really know how to make content land,” Shah says.

Bata’s bet isn’t just about reach, it’s about attention. “We took Prajakta Koli, who’s an influencer, and her engagement rates were better than a celebrity’s, probably,” Shah adds. “We always evaluate what works for us in the influencer space and then take a call. It’s all a question of where the eyeballs are moving. If consumers are there, so are we.”

For several beauty and cosmetic brands, influencer partnerships have gone beyond campaigns and become part of the product lifecycle. “Beauty influencers are very kind to beauty as a segment because they are naturally inclined to talk about great products. Even when we don’t do paid collaborations, they pick up our stuff and amplify it,” says Vidushi Goyal, Chief Marketing Officer, Swiss Beauty.

A case in point: Swiss Beauty’s Holographic Eyeliner, launched in December 2023. The brand didn’t spend a single rupee on marketing the product initially. “It went out of stock within 15–30 days of launch purely because of unpaid content from top influencers like Ankush Bahuguna and Shreya Jain,” says Goyal. “Once it was back in stock, we started leveraging that traction with formal campaigns.”

Another product, the Real Base Highlighting Primer, saw a 3–4x jump in sales for nearly two months after an influencer video went viral, even though the creator never explicitly mentioned the brand name.

“We track success mostly through views and engagement, not just conversions,” says Goyal. “Not every campaign shows a direct link to sales, but when something goes viral, the impact is real.”

For The Body Shop, the influencer game has evolved into something more granular. “A couple of years ago, influencer marketing was primarily about reach. Today, it’s also performance-driven,” says Harmeet Singh, Chief Brand Officer, Asia South. Their strategy hinges on cultural relevance by using hyperlocal creators to plug into festive moments. Think Marathi influencers for Ganesh Chaturthi or Malayali creators for Onam.

“It’s not just about making noise, it’s about meaningful engagement and conversions,” Singh says. Regional authenticity, he adds, has helped lift both engagement and festive sales.

The Gen Z consumer, who sits at the center of this influencer boom, is playing a big role in shaping strategy. As Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha puts it, they’re trend-obsessed, highly immersive, and deeply distrustful of traditional celebrity endorsements. “Their sources of learning are creators who look like them, speak like them. Influencers, not celebs, are their go-to,” she explains.

And the scale of this shift is staggering. “India has 2.5 million creators who influence nearly $300 billion of consumer spending today. This is projected to grow to $1 trillion, making us the fastest-growing creator economy in the world,” says Sinha.

That growth is also disrupting the way brand communication is done. “Earlier, it was one celebrity, one message, one medium. Now, it’s many creators, many micro-messages, many mediums - and all talking to millions of people in personal, relatable ways,” she adds.

“This is an opportune time for influencers in India, as 86% of them anticipate a significant increase in their income over the next two years,” says the EY report.

But is there real ROI? Not always measurable in direct sales. But in visibility, differentiation, and cultural stickiness - absolutely.