Notes for owners · Digital marketing
SMS in India: what a business can send, and the rules to check with your provider
What kinds of SMS an Indian business can send, how DLT registration and sender IDs fit in general terms, and when a text still beats WhatsApp. Rules change, so confirm with your provider.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
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An Indian business can send SMS for transactions, service updates and, with the right registration and consent, promotions. Bulk business SMS goes through a registration system that ties your sender name and each message template to your business. The detailed rules, forms and fees change. Treat this post as a map of questions to put to your provider, and verify the answers in writing.
What kinds of SMS are there?
Providers sort business messages by purpose, and the sorting decides what you need to register and when you may send. The names and the exact rules can change, so confirm with your provider. In plain terms:
- Messages about something the customer did. An order shipped, an OTP, a bill paid, an appointment booked.
- Service messages that are not offers. A policy renewal date, a service due reminder, a fee due notice.
- Promotions. An offer, a sale, a new product.
The line between the second and third is where businesses go wrong. A reminder with a discount tacked on is likely to be judged as a promotion. A provider can tell you which category your message falls into, and an operator can block a message put in the wrong one.
What is DLT, in plain words?
DLT stands for distributed ledger technology, which the regulator's system uses to record who is allowed to send what. As the system works at present, it comes down to three registrations made through a provider or the operator's portal. Confirm the current list with your provider:
- Your business as a sender, with documents proving who you are.
- Your sender name, the short code of letters that appears as the sender on the phone.
- Your message templates, each approved before use, with fixed text and variable gaps.
A message that does not match an approved template can be dropped. A dropped message never arrives. You may not be told. Promotions to someone who has opted out can be blocked too. Operators and the regulator publish the current requirements. A good provider will walk you through them. Check with your own adviser or the regulator for anything beyond sending, such as what records you must keep.
Questions to ask your provider before you pay
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Will you handle the registration for me, and what documents do you need? | Prevents a stall at the very start |
| Which message category does each of my templates fall under? | A wrong category gets blocked |
| What is the sender name and can I choose it? | Customers trust a name they recognise |
| What does the delivery report show, and for how long? | You need reasons for failures |
| Who is responsible if a number has opted out? | Keeps you clear of blocked sends |
| What happens at renewal or when templates change? | Registrations can lapse |
Get answers by email. A promise made on a call is no use when a send fails.
When does SMS beat WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is better for conversation, catalogues, photos and documents. SMS wins in a few specific cases.
Reach beyond smartphones. Some of your customers may have basic phones or not use WhatsApp regularly. A text lands on any phone.
No data connection. A text arrives when mobile data is off or the signal is weak.
Codes and alerts. Banks, courier firms and utilities use SMS for OTPs and delivery alerts because people expect them there.
A channel not tied to a number you have given up. Some people mute all business WhatsApp chats; a text still shows on the lock screen.
SMS is a poor fit for long messages, pictures and price lists. It is worse for anything that needs a back-and-forth. If you also use WhatsApp, broadcast lists or the API covers that side.
For example: a two-wheeler dealership in Davanagere
This case is invented. A dealership in Davanagere sells scooters and bikes to farmers and shopkeepers across nearby villages. Its service team wants to remind buyers when the first service is due. Many customers have basic phones, and several are not on WhatsApp.
The tempting mistake is to buy a list of numbers and send a sale message. That list holds people who never bought from the dealership, and promotional sends to numbers that have opted out may be blocked, so check the rules with your provider.
The dealer instead uses the numbers in its own sales register. The service reminder goes on a template that the provider confirms as a service message: "Dear {#var#}, the first service of your {#var#} is due after {#var#} km or by {#var#}. Call {#var#} to book. {#var#}". The message goes only to people who bought a vehicle. Sale offers go on a separate template, and only to customers who agreed. Some customers ring back to book because the text named the vehicle and the date. Others have changed their number since the sale, so the register needs cleaning before the next round.
What should you never send by SMS?
Anything you are not allowed to say in your trade without a licence or a check. If you sell health products, financial products, insurance or courses, rules differ by state and body and change, so check with your own adviser or the regulator before you draft promotional text. Do not send claims you cannot prove. And do not send to a list you bought; see consent and marketing data for the checks to run before any send.
How do you test before you rely on it?
Before the first real send, put five staff phones to work, ideally on different operators and including one basic handset. Send each registered template to all five and check three things:
- Does the sender name show as you expect?
- Do the variables fill with sensible text, with no stray {#var#} left in?
- Did every phone receive it, and how long did it seem to take?
Screenshot the results and keep them with your provider's emails. If one operator drops a message, you have evidence to take back to the provider. The test costs a few messages and saves finding out from a customer.
List what you would send
List every message you send customers today: confirmation, reminder, offer, thank-you. Then mark each as transactional, service or promotional, and note whether it goes by call, WhatsApp or text. Take the sheet to your provider. Ask which need registration, and get the answer in writing. If you want help deciding which of those messages belong on SMS at all, SMS marketing is the service for it, the marketing hub shows the wider picture, and you can tell us what you need.
