The State of Cookie Compliancein India, 2026
The first large-scale analysis of cookie consent practices across India's digital ecosystem. We scanned 6,000+ websites and catalogued over 84,000 cookies. The results reveal a massive compliance gap.
- Indian websites scanned
- 6,000+
- Cookies catalogued & classified
- 84K+
- Industry sectors analysed
- 24
The numbers paint a stark picture
Our analysis uncovered systemic gaps across consent, cookie classification, and data retention, spanning every major industry sector.
Of sites have any consent mechanism at all
Out of 6,000+ websites scanned, only 249 displayed a cookie consent banner. 95.9% of Indian websites drop cookies without any form of user consent.
Government website consent rate
Of 1,154 government websites scanned, only 2 showed a consent banner, the lowest of any sector.
Non-essential cookie share
Marketing, analytics, and unclassified cookies dominate. Only 17.8% serve essential or functional purposes.
Pre-consent violation rate
Among sites with consent banners, 79.6% drop non-essential cookies before the user even interacts with the banner.
Accept-only banner designs
Nearly two-thirds of consent banners offer only an “Accept” button, with no meaningful opt-out.
What kind of cookies are Indian websites setting?
We classified 84,000+ cookies across five categories using heuristic-based rules. Marketing trackers are the single largest category.
- Marketing38.1%
- Analytics21.7%
- Essential10.1%
- Functional7.7%
- Unclassified22.4%
Consent adoption by industry sector
Even the best-performing sectors show alarmingly low consent adoption rates. Most sectors are below 15%.
How does your industry compare?
Cookie patterns vary dramatically across industries, from media sites averaging 30+ cookies per page to government portals with fewer than 4.
- 9.3
- Avg cookies
- 1.1%
- Consent rate
- 41.8%
- Marketing
- 53.1%
- Third-party
- 3.9
- Avg cookies
- 0.2%
- Consent rate
- 13.9%
- Marketing
- 30.1%
- Third-party
- 15.5
- Avg cookies
- 11.2%
- Consent rate
- 37.4%
- Marketing
- 57.8%
- Third-party
- 24.0
- Avg cookies
- 4.8%
- Consent rate
- 35.9%
- Marketing
- 42.6%
- Third-party
- 30.4
- Avg cookies
- 1.5%
- Consent rate
- 65.8%
- Marketing
- 70.5%
- Third-party
- 16.3
- Avg cookies
- 3.3%
- Consent rate
- 33.4%
- Marketing
- 52.3%
- Third-party
- 14.0
- Avg cookies
- 2.4%
- Consent rate
- 47.4%
- Marketing
- 64.7%
- Third-party
- 14.6
- Avg cookies
- 8.3%
- Consent rate
- 39.7%
- Marketing
- 52.2%
- Third-party
- 17.8
- Avg cookies
- 8.8%
- Consent rate
- 33.9%
- Marketing
- 45.5%
- Third-party
- 14.3
- Avg cookies
- 7.5%
- Consent rate
- 45.3%
- Marketing
- 54.1%
- Third-party
- 24.4
- Avg cookies
- 14.7%
- Consent rate
- 33.5%
- Marketing
- 36.3%
- Third-party
- 16.7
- Avg cookies
- 12.2%
- Consent rate
- 27.5%
- Marketing
- 47.7%
- Third-party
Transparent, reproducible methodology
Every finding in this report is backed by a clearly documented methodology. The full technical details are available in the downloadable PDF.
Automated Browser Scanning
We used headless Chromium browsers to visit each website, capturing all cookies set on the initial page load to mimic an average user's first visit.
Automated Cookie Taxonomy
Each cookie was classified using a layered system that evaluates name patterns, issuing domains, and TTL values, cross-referenced against open cookie databases and our proprietary classification engine.
Sector-Level Analysis
Websites were tagged into 24 industry sectors and analysed for consent adoption, cookie volumes, third-party tracker presence, and security posture.
Get the complete research report
The full PDF includes detailed sector breakdowns, retention analysis, security posture data, top tracker rankings, and actionable compliance recommendations.
- Complete dataset across 24 industry sectors with per-sector scorecard
- Top 30 third-party trackers and cookies ranked by prevalence
- Cookie retention analysis: how long data persists on user devices
- Detailed methodology and reproducible research framework
- DPDP Act readiness implications and compliance recommendations
About this research
This study was conducted by ComplyZero Research in February 2026. It represents the first comprehensive, automated analysis of cookie compliance across India's digital landscape. All methodology, data collection processes, and classification rules are documented in full within the report.
Learn about ComplyZero