Do I have to display my clinic's fees in India?

Two different rules touch fee display in India, and most pages online blur them into one. One is a personal duty on every doctor, wherever they practise. The other is tied to your clinic's registration, and only applies in some states. Here is each one, sourced, plus a template for your own board.

Do doctors have to display their fees in India?

Yes. Under the heading "Fees and other charges", regulation 3.7.1 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 is a single sentence, and it applies to every doctor registered to practise in India, in every state, whether or not their clinic is covered by any other law.

The 2023 update to this code (the National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner Professional Conduct Regulations, 2023) was reported to have been held in abeyance weeks after it was notified, so the 2002 code, including 3.7.1, is the version currently in force. This page will be updated if that changes.

Two things worth noting. First, this is a duty on the physician, not on a building, so it travels with you to every hospital or clinic you visit, not just your main chamber. Second, it sits next to a related duty covered separately: your registration number, which regulation 1.4.1 also requires you to display. A fee board and a registration number are two different requirements, and a clinic needs both.

What does the Clinical Establishments Rules 2012 require, and which states does it apply to?

Separate from the doctor's own duty above, the Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules, 2012 put a rate-list duty on the clinical establishment itself, as a condition of its registration. It is broader than a fee board: it covers rates for services and facilities, not just a consultation fee, and rule 9 says it must appear in the local language as well as in English.

"Clinical establishment" is defined widely under the parent Act: it covers a hospital, nursing home, dispensary or clinic, and it explicitly includes one owned and run by a single doctor, not only multi-doctor hospitals. So a small OPD-only clinic is not automatically exempt just because it has no beds.

The catch is that these central Rules only take direct effect where the central Act has been brought into force. As of the date checked, the Act's own portal names around 19 states and UTs that adopted it, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Telangana, Assam, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh, plus most union territories other than Delhi. Large states such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are not on that list because each runs its own, separate clinical establishments law, with its own rules that may or may not include a rate-display duty in the same words.

A live example: Kerala

States with their own law can go further than the central Rules, and that duty can end up in court. Kerala's own Clinical Establishments Act requires hospitals to display services and package rates at reception and on their website, in Malayalam and English. The Kerala High Court upheld that duty in November 2025, and private hospital associations then took the question to the Supreme Court, which granted interim relief while the case continues.

1. 26 Nov 2025

   Kerala High Court upholds the state's Clinical Establishments Act

   Hospitals must display services and package rates at reception and on their website, in Malayalam and English.

   Bar and Bench report (opens in a new tab)

2. 16 Dec 2025

   Supreme Court issues notice, grants interim relief

   Private hospital associations challenge the ruling. The Court directs no coercive action against them until the case is heard further.

   LiveLaw report (opens in a new tab)

3. 17 Sep 2026

   Case still pending as of the date this page was checked

   The underlying duty to display rates has not been struck down; only enforcement against the petitioners is paused. Treat this as unsettled, not resolved, if you practise in Kerala.

The point for a doctor outside Kerala is not the outcome, which is still open. It is that a state's own version of this duty can be more detailed, and more actively enforced, than the central Rules, so "my state has a clinical establishments law" is only the first question, not the last one.

Can I show a fee range or a 'from' price instead of one number?

Nothing in the NMC code or the central Rules bans a range outright. Both simply require the fee to be displayed, not that it be a single fixed figure. The honesty test sits elsewhere, in general advertising law.

• A range is fine if most patients land inside it. "Root canal: ₹4,000 to ₹8,000, depending on the tooth" describes real variation.
• A 'from' price is fine if patients regularly pay that figure. "Consultation from ₹500" is honest if ₹500 is a real, common price, not a rate reserved for one exceptional case.
• A 'from' price is a problem if it is a floor almost nobody qualifies for. The ASCI Code's general rule against misleading advertising, by omission, exaggeration or ambiguity, applies to a clinic's price claims the same way it applies to any other advertiser.

Do fees need to show up on my website and Google Business Profile?

Neither the 2002 code nor the central Rules name a website or a Google listing by name; both were written with a physical board in mind. That does not make the question unimportant. It just means the reason to show consistent fees online is practical trust, not a specific clause.

Google lets you add an optional price to each service you list on your Business Profile, according to Google's own help pages. If you choose to add one, the same principle from the fee board applies: whatever you show there should match your board and your website, not a different, older, or more attractive-looking number.

This also matters for reasons beyond compliance. Our guide to what an Indian clinic website needs and our guide to Google Business Profile for doctors both cover keeping your listed details current, fees included, since mismatched information across your board, site and listing is exactly the kind of inconsistency that makes a clinic look less trustworthy to a patient comparing a few options, or to an AI answer trying to summarise your clinic accurately.

What should go on a clinic fee board?

Keep it to what regulation 3.7.1 and, where it applies to you, rule 9 actually ask for: your services, and what each one costs or roughly costs. A blank template you can fill in by hand or hand to your front desk:

If the Clinical Establishments Rules apply in your state, also show the board in your local language next to the English version, since rule 9 asks for both, not English alone.

What happens if a clinic doesn't display its fees?

The two duties carry different consequences, because they sit with different people.

• For the doctor, under regulation 3.7.1: if a patient or authority complains, a State Medical Council can treat a missing fee display as professional misconduct under the 2002 code.
• For the establishment, under the Clinical Establishments Rules: where those Rules apply, rule 9 is written as a condition of registration itself, so ignoring it can put the establishment's registration at risk, separate from any action against the doctor personally.

Neither consequence depends on a patient actually being overcharged. The duty is to display the rate, so the risk exists even where every patient is, in fact, charged fairly.