OBJECTIVES: Pharmaceutical companies in India spend considerable amount of money on promoting their generic brands to physicians. Lot of controversy exists regarding physicians regular contact with pharmaceutical company’s Medical Representatives and acceptance of Brand reminders and gifts. According to Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines physicians should not accept gifts worth more than INR 1000. The main objective of the study is to assess the Impact of brand reminders and gifts given by pharmaceutical companies on generic brand selection among physicians. METHODS: An exploratory study was conducted among physicians to understand the promotional practices of pharmaceutical companies and a 16 item questionnaire was prepared. The questionnaire was pilot tested and validated. The survey is conducted on sample size of 100 doctors. The data collected was coded, recorded and analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Results were presented in the form of descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The surveyed population consisted of 63% males and 64 % ware with General Medicine Specialization. Majority of the physicians were accepting the gifts and brand reminders occasionally (68%) and only 2% opined that these will not be influencing in brand name recall. Commonly accepted brand reminders were pens and books (79%), calendar and mugs (16%). Acceptance of brand reminders and gifts somewhat influenced (69%) by creating pressure on the physician. Only 58% of the surveyed physicians were aware of MCI guidelines that it is unethical to accept gifts worth more than INR 1000. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the gifts and brand reminders are used for reminding the brand names, it was found to create pressure and influence physician’s choice of a generic brand. There is a need to create awareness about MCI guidelines among physicians to avoid unethical practices.