The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For advertising, that activity is 73100.
NIC code · National Industrial Classification 2008
73100 is the 5-digit NIC 2008 code for advertising: a sub-class of class 7310, advertising, within division 73, advertising and market research. Search a code or activity below, or copy the code for your Udyam or SPICe+ form.
This code
Division 73Group 731Class 7310Sub-class 73100
Advertising
Sub-class 73100 · Class 7310 · Group 731 · Division 73 · Section M, NIC 2008
The code
Where the code sits in the National Industrial Classification 2008, from section to sub-class, in the official wording.
731005 digits: 73 + 1 + 0 + 0NIC 2025 · Notice dated 16 October 2026
On 18 November 2025 the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released NIC 2025, which uses 6-digit codes aligned with the UN's ISIC Revision 5. This page shows the NIC 2008 code 73100. The matching NIC 2025 code will be added here once it is mapped from MoSPI's official concordance.
How to read it
An NIC code is built in layers. Each digit narrows the one before it: the division, the group, the class, and finally the 5-digit sub-class. Divisions themselves are grouped under lettered sections.
The broadest numbered layer. Division 73 covers advertising and market research. It sits in section M, professional, scientific and technical activities.
Advertising.
Advertising. The official note for this class is quoted below.
Advertising. The full 5-digit code you enter where a form asks for the business activity by NIC code.
What it covers
73100 is a sub-class of class 7310, advertising. The NIC 2008 document explains the class in the note below, quoted exactly.
This class includes the provision of a full range of advertising services (i.e. through in-house capabilities or subcontracting), including advice, creative services, production of advertising material, media planning, and buying
This class excludes:
- - publishing of advertising material, see 5819
- - production of commercial messages for radio, television and film, see 5911
- - public-relations activities, see 7020
- - market research, see 7320
- - advertising photography, see 7420
- - convention and trade show organizers, see 8230
- - direct mailing activities (addressing, pre-sorting etc.), see 8299
Where you use it
Two registration forms ask for the business activity by NIC code. This is where 73100 is entered.
The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For advertising, that activity is 73100.
The company incorporation form asks for the main industrial activity of the proposed company by NIC code.
Not GST. GST registration does not use NIC codes; goods and services there are classified by HSN and SAC codes.
Questions
Advertising, in the National Industrial Classification 2008. It is a sub-class of class 7310, advertising.
In Udyam Registration, which asks for the business activity by NIC code, and in the SPICe+ company incorporation form, which asks for the main industrial activity by NIC code. GST registration does not use NIC codes.
About this page
The section, division, group, class and sub-class on this page, and the explanatory note for class 7310, are taken word for word from the official document “National Industrial Classification (All Economic Activities) 2008”, Central Statistical Organisation, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.
This is reference information on the classification of a business activity. It is not advice on which code your own business should declare, and the official NIC document prevails if the two ever differ. A change in the classification, including the MoSPI concordance to NIC 2025, re-opens this page for checking.
Not sure which code fits your activity, or spotted a mismatch? Use the WhatsApp button on this page and tell us what the business sells and how.