The A to Z of Indian Phone Number Format

Senior Writer: Sindhu Bharathi

Reading Time: 6 Minutes

Published : February 22, 2024

India is a rapidly evolving country and ranks 5th in the global output. With a huge population of over 1.4 billion offers a conducive environment for businesses to scale their market. To get there and engage with Indian prospects, having a robust communication system is crucial. 

Also, 88% of customers reported that the quality of customer service is a crucial determinant of their purchasing decisions. So, having a well-established communication system and a thorough understanding of the Indian phone number format is crucial. 

Read the blog to understand the intricacies of the Indian phone number format and how you can leverage the system to boost your sales and customer support quality.

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Mastering the Indian Phone Number Format: Why It Matters

Each country has its number format, and so does India. Understanding the right Indian phone number is important for businesses and individuals to strengthen their personal and professional relationships in India. Here are other important reasons. 

1. Efficient call routing

Understanding the correct Indian phone number format helps achieve efficient and correct call routing. India has a specific country code, area code, and number pattern. Having a familiarity with the phone number format helps you reach your intended customers, clients, or family members without errors and delays. 

2. High cost-efficiency

A mismatch in the dialing format may land you in wrong, unintended connections. When you are calling from overseas, the wrong connections may cost you high in terms of wasted calling minutes. 

3. Effective communication

When you dial the wrong number, there are chances that you may spurt out the information. If sensitive details reach the wrong person, it may turn out to be a costly affair. So, having familiarity with the Indian phone number format helps ensure that the information reaches the intended individual or business representative. 

Beyond serious consequences in terms of information leakage, miscommunication is exhausting physically and mentally. In a HubSpot survey, 68% of participants reported that miscommunication drains out time. So, having a strong acquaintance with the Indian phone number format saves you time and effort in communication. 

4. Enhance customer support quality

For businesses operating call centers and customer support teams from abroad, knowing the country code and the Indian phone number format is important. The broad knowledge helps them serve customers well while strengthening the brand image and elevating customer satisfaction levels. 

5. Business expansion in India 

Understanding the Indian phone number format and its nuances helps businesses and individuals expand their customer base and relationships in India. Having a robust communication system is important to ensure a seamless market entry. It also helps them build a rapport with the customers quickly and effectively. Beyond entry, having a reliable understanding of the Indian phone number format helps you with market research and planning. 

6. Improves marketing and sales performance

Having a thorough understanding of the Indian phone number format supports your marketing and sales operations. Many businesses make calls and messages to customers to promote their products and services. In that case, knowing the phone number format helps them reach the right set of target customers.

Codes for Dialing Indian Phone Numbers

If you are trying to call Indian phone numbers, you must have familiarity with the dialing format. Here are the important codes that you must know.

1. Country code

As explained earlier, each country has an international subscriber dialing or the country calling code. Knowing the country code for India is important when you make calls from abroad. Only when you dial the correct code, your call will be routed from your country to India. The country code for India is 91. 

2. Area code 

India is notably a large country with 28 states and several well-established cities across its length and breadth. You need not worry about the area code if you are calling an Indian mobile number. But, if you are dialing a landline number, you must have a familiarity with these codes. The area codes or the subscriber trunk dialing code in India has two or three digits. 

Here are the national dialing codes of the major Indian cities.

3. Exit code

While dialing an Indian number from abroad, you must also enter the exit code of your home country. For instance, the exit code of the US is 011 and that of the UK is 00. You must dial this international access code while dialing overseas.

Indian Phone Number Example

If you are new to India, understanding the Indian phone number format is important. As is the case with other countries, mobile numbers and landline numbers have different formats,, and we have described them in detail below. 

Indian landline number format example

The Indian landline numbers have 8 digits and to reach out to Indian landline numbers, you must enter the exit code, Indian country code, area code, and the landline telephone numbers. 

We have summarized the Indian landline number format for major cities. You must add the exit code to this pattern if you are dialing from another country.

Indian mobile number format example

Now that we have seen the landline format for Indian phone numbers let us look at the mobile numbers.

The India cell phone number format is the same as that of the landline and the only change is that you must skip the area code in the dialing pattern. The Indian mobile numbers usually have ten-digit numbers. While dialing the Indian mobile numbers, you must add the country code and exit code in the beginning. 

The mobile number written format is +91 XXXXX XXXX, where +91 is the country code for India. You must add a ‘+’ before the number to signify the exit code while dialing from another country.

How to Call an Indian Phone Number?

Now that we know the number format for landline and mobile numbers let us look at the steps involved in calling an Indian phone number. There are slight differences in calling a mobile and a landline number from abroad and the details are covered in the below sections.

Calling an Indian landline number

To make an international call to an Indian landline number, you must follow these steps. 

Step 1: Dial the international access code 

Step 2: Enter the country code ‘91’

Step 3: Enter the area code

Step 4: Dial the contact number

For example, to dial the landline number in Bangalore from the UK, the dialing pattern is below.

00-91-80- XXXXX XXXXX

Exit code of the UK – Country code of India – Bangalore area code – Landline/ mobile number

Calling an Indian mobile number

To call an Indian mobile number, follow the steps listed in this section. 

Step 1: Dial the international access code

This is the same as dialing the landline number. But when it comes to calling an Indian mobile number, you must dial a ‘+’ as the exit code or international access code. For instance, if you are dialing an Indian mobile number from the UK or any other country, you must enter a ‘+’.

Step 2: Dial the Indian country code

After dialing ‘+’, you must enter the Indian country code to route a call from abroad into India. As mentioned above, the Indian country code is 91. 

Step 3: Key in the Indian mobile number

The last step in dialing an Indian mobile number is to enter the actual contact number. If you wish to reach your business or personal contact located in Ahmedabad from the UK, the dialing format is below.

+91-XXXXX XXXXX

Exit code (+) – Country code of India (91) – Mobile number

Closing Thoughts

Getting familiar with the Indian phone number format helps improve your communication efficiency and avoid errors and delays. Reaching out to the right contact through the right number helps scale your customer service quality and expand your business in the Indian market. To get the right Indian phone number format, you must remember the exit code, country code, and area code. 

Calling an Indian number from abroad may be a costly affair. Though there are applications like WhatsApp or Skype, they are not appropriate for large-scale enterprises. In that case, using a VoIP phone system helps as it offers virtual numbers that allow efficient routing of calls and messages over the internet. VoIP systems have affordable subscription plans that help lower communication costs.

Sindhu Bharathi

Sindhu Bharathi is an inquisitive learner and prolific B2B/SaaS writer with experience of working in diverse industries. She has a demonstrated history of delivering well-researched, original content. From generating long-form articles, blogs, and white papers to social media copies, she pivots her skills to resonate with the medium and deliver compelling content that has the power to captivate the audience.

Updated : April 17, 2024

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