Sharechat, Moj, and Josh have 400M+ active users. Most Indian brands still market only in English. Here is what shifts when you go regional — and where it backfires.

India's vernacular audience — Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali — is now larger and more engaged than the English-speaking metro audience. Sharechat alone has 180M MAU, mostly tier-3 and rural. Yet most brand budgets in India still flow 80%+ into English content and Meta English placements. The brands seeing 3-5x lower CAC in tier-2/3 markets — Boat, Mama Earth's Hindi belt expansion, Cred's recent regional push — invest in language-native creative, not translated English ads. Voiceover by local creators. References to regional festivals and food. Pricing called out in regional terms ("ek hazaar rupya" not "Rs 1000"). Where it backfires: lazy translation. Hindi subtitles on English ads convert worse than pure English. Either go all-in on regional or stay English — the middle ground costs more and converts less.