Telephone numbers in India

India telephone numbers
Location of India
Location
Country India
Continent Asia
Regulator Department of Telecommunications
Type Closed
NSN length 10
Numbering plan National Numbering Plan - 2003
Last updated 13 April 2015
Access codes
Country calling code +91
International call prefix 00
Trunk prefix 0
A public call office (PCO) in Auroville, India

Telephone numbers in India are administered under the National Numbering Plan of 2003 by the Department of Telecommunications. The numbering plan was last updated in 2015. The International Telecommunication Union has assigned the country calling code "91" to India.

Fixed line (landline) numbers

Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) codes are assigned to each city/town/village, with the larger Metro cities having shorter area codes (STD codes), which are from 2 to 8 digits long. For example,


Tier-2 Cities in India have STD code with 3 digits. For example,


Kanpur and Lucknow were the two cities between which the first STD call of the country was made.

The total length of all phone numbers (STD code and the phone number) in India is constant at 10 digits, for example 7513200000 signifies a STD code i.e. 751 Gwalior & the phone number 3200000.

Land line numbers are at most 8 digits long (usually in major metros).

Landline operators

Due to the availability of multiple operators offering fixed line services (either over wire or wireless), there is an operator-code for each telephone number, which is the first digit in the phone number. These are[1][2]

Thus, a number formatted as 020-30303030 means a fixed-line Reliance number in Pune, while 011-20000198 is an MTNL fixed line in Delhi and 033-45229320 is a fixed-line Airtel number in Kolkata, and 07582-221434 is a BSNL number from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh.

Format for dialing landline numbers

No prefix is required to call from one landline to another in the same STD area. A prefix of "0+STD code" is required to dial from a landline phone in one STD code area to another. A prefix of "0+STD code" is required to dial from a mobile phone in India to any landline number, irrespective of STD area.

For example, to dial a landline number in Indore, one would have to dial

  • from a landline in Indore: the phone number
  • from a landline in Mumbai: 0731 and then the phone number
  • from any mobile phone in India: 0731 and then the phone number
  • from outside India: Country Code 91 then 731 and then the phone number

Before 10 March 2009, as per Department of Telecommunications memorandum dated 9 February 2009.[3][4] there were some exceptions to this general rule for STD areas falling close to each other (within a radius of 200 kilometre), where "0" can be replaced with "95" e.g. to dial Delhi from Gurgaon, one dials 9511+landline number.

Mobile numbers

A typical mobile number in India is "+91-XXXX-NNNNNN". Where the first four digits indicate a operator's code, while the remaining six digits are unique to the subscribers. However, with portability in place, the first four digits may not indicate a particular operator.

Short code

There are many companies in the Indian market who rent keywords, on a monthly basis, whose characters, on a typical mobile phone keypad, represent short codes. Short codes are five digits in length and have to start with the digit '5' like 58888 as of 2007. Previously, they were four-digit in number and could be of any combination, like 8888 or 7827. The current five digits can be extended by three digits further representing 3 additional characters. Messages sent to these Short Codes are commonly referred to as Premium Rate SMS Messages and cost from per message depending on the operator as well as the service and the company.

Telemarketing

Telemarketers have been issued 10-digit telephone numbers starting with 140 (140XXXXXXX) by the Department of Telecommunications on TRAI's request.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ "National Numbering Plan – a revised approach suggested by TRAI for achieving greater transparency and efficiency" (PDF). trai.gov.in. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. March 2009. pp. 9–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-03.
  2. ↑ "Local Phone Number Formats in India". IndiaCallingInfo.com. CallingGuides.com. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  3. ↑ "DoT Memorandum 10th Feb 09" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
  4. ↑ TRAI for 10-digit landline numbers to meet crunch
  5. ↑ Trai fails to set deadline on pesky calls
  6. ↑ 'Publishing tariff plans by telecom service providers mandatory'
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