SMS API for India: bulk SMS to +91 numbers

India is a South Asian country with New Delhi as its capital and Mumbai as its largest city, known for its IT industry and digital services. Developers at mobile banking apps, e-commerce platforms, ride-hailing services, and educational institutions integrate SMS into their systems. Messages are sent for events like OTP logins, order confirmations, ride updates, and exam results. SMS is chosen because it works on all phones, including basic models, and reaches users in both urban and rural areas.

India

Calling code +91

Per SMS segment
$0.01557
Messages for $100
6,422
Local language
Hindi, English
Encoding
Unicode (UCS-2)

What a bulk SMS send to India costs

Every message is priced at $0.01557 per segment to India. Texts over 160 GSM-7 or 70 Unicode characters are split into segments, so a two-segment text costs twice as much.
Messages1 segment2 segments
1$0.01557$0.03114
1,000$15.57$31.14
10,000$155.70$311.40
100,000$1,557.00$3,114.00

Number format in India

Mobile numbers in India have 10 digits after +91. Locally they are written with a leading 0 (081234 56789); in the API that 0 is dropped, so the same number goes in the to field as +91 81234 56789.

Alphabet and segments

Text in Devanagari and the other Indian scripts is always Unicode, so a message to India written in Hindi carries 70 characters in one segment and 67 in each part of a longer one. Codes and alerts written in English or plain Latin letters fit 160 characters, which halves the cost of a long notice.

Time zone and timing

India keeps UTC+5:30 all year with no clock change, so 09:00 in Kolkata is always 03:30 UTC. send_at takes UTC or any ISO 8601 offset, and the console scheduler converts from your own time zone.

Send to India with one request

The answer comes back at once with the message id, the country the number was matched to (IN) and the price. A delivered or failed event follows on your webhook, and a failed message is refunded.

For a list, send the same text to up to 10,000 numbers with POST /v1/batches, or a personal text per number in messages.

curl https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BULKSMSAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"to": "+918123456789", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'

What developers send to India

Common integrations that call the SMS API for recipients in India.

OTP logins

Users in Bangalore receive a one-time password by SMS when logging into their mobile banking app for secure access.

Order confirmations

Customers in Mumbai get an SMS when their online purchase is confirmed, with details about delivery timelines.

Ride updates

Passengers in Delhi receive SMS alerts about their ride-hailing driver's location and estimated arrival time.

Exam results

Students in Chennai are notified by SMS when their board exam results are published online.

SMS to India: questions

More answers on accounts, payments and the API are in the FAQ.

How much does it cost to send bulk SMS to India?

Each message segment to India costs $0.01557. A plain text of up to 160 characters is one segment, so 1,000 one-segment messages cost $15.57 and 10,000 cost $155.70. Failed messages are refunded to the balance.

How many SMS to India does a $100 top-up send?

$100 covers about 6,422 one-segment messages to India at $0.01557 each. The first top-up adds a bonus on top, which raises that number. The balance is shared by every country, so the same top-up also pays for messages anywhere else on the list.

How do I write India numbers for the API?

Send them in international format with the plus sign: +91 81234 56789 becomes "+918123456789" in the to field. The API also accepts spaces, dashes and a 00 prefix and cleans them, and numbers that cannot be read are listed in set_aside instead of being charged.

What languages are used for SMS in India?

English is widely used for SMS in India, especially in urban areas. Regional languages like Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali are also common.

Are there seasonal peaks in SMS traffic in India?

Yes, SMS traffic spikes during festivals like Diwali and Holi, as well as during exam seasons and monsoon-related service alerts.

Start sending to India

Create an account, top up from $40 and send to India at $0.01557 per segment, from the console or with one API call.

SMS API India: Bulk SMS to +91 From $0.01557 | BulkSMSAPI