RBI Floats ₹12-Crore Social Media Tender, Bids Close November 6

The three-year mandate covers digital campaigns, podcasts, multilingual social listening and round-the-clock monitoring.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a ₹12-crore tender for social media management services, opening a sizeable opportunity for advertising, digital marketing and communications agencies. The mandate is meant to strengthen the central bank’s digital outreach, public engagement and online reputation management.

The RBI’s Department of Communication issued the tender on October 7, 2026. It covers April 1, 2027 to March 31, 2030, subject to the tender terms, and bids must be submitted by November 6, 2026.

More than content posting

The brief goes well beyond publishing and account management. The selected agency will develop platform-specific communication strategies, create digital campaigns, manage content and run promotional activity across the RBI’s digital channels.

Podcast production is also part of the scope, covering conceptualisation, scripting, recording, editing, distribution and performance measurement. The content will focus on financial literacy, public awareness, regulatory clarity and institutional communication. The scope reflects how public institutions are moving towards sustained engagement, content-led outreach and measurable results.

24/7 monitoring in many languages

Social listening and online monitoring are a major part of the mandate. The RBI wants round-the-clock monitoring across platforms such as X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as news sites, blogs, forums and messaging apps where technically and legally feasible.

Monitoring must cover at least 15 Indian vernacular languages, in addition to English and Hindi. It should identify emerging narratives, possible misinformation, impersonation accounts and other harmful content, with real-time alerts. The brief also calls for sentiment analysis and the use of artificial intelligence in monitoring.

A five-minute response window

One of the toughest requirements is response time. The agency must be able to issue first-level responses within five minutes of a post, using responses predefined and approved by the RBI.

To support this, the RBI has specified a dedicated team of 15 professionals working exclusively on its account, with more staff added when needed. Rapid response, multilingual monitoring and continuous oversight will call for an integrated operation across content, analytics, technology and crisis communication.

Eligibility favours established agencies

Agencies must have an average annual turnover of at least ₹70 crore across the financial years 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26. Together with the size of the team and the breadth of services, this is likely to favour established agencies and integrated digital communications firms that can run large, always-on accounts.

A growing government market

The tender comes as government bodies increasingly seek services that combine social media management with influencer engagement, AI-enabled content, social listening and crisis response. For agencies, such briefs mean a move from platform administration to end-to-end digital communication partnerships, where creative execution has to be paired with analytics, technology, multilingual capability and real-time response.

The final award will depend on the tendering process and the bids received.