SMS gateway for India: send SMS from your own India number
Published and updated
An Android phone holding a India SIM sends the messages, so the API call goes out over that SIM and recipients see the +91 number that sent it. Any Android phone with an India SIM that can send SMS runs the textbee app. A TRAI direction caps an ordinary SIM at one hundred SMS a day, and an operator may cut a number that sends unregistered commercial traffic down to twenty outgoing messages a day. The SIM keeps its own carrier plan, and textbee is $9.99 a month at 5,000 messages on top of it.
How it works with a local SIM
- Put a India SIM in an Android phone that stays on and on power, and install the textbee app on it.
- Register the device from the dashboard, which pairs the phone with your API key.
- Call
POST /gateway/send-smswith the recipient in E.164 form. The phone sends it over the SIM and reports the result back.
What it costs at 1K, 5K and 25K messages
| Provider | 1K messages | 5K messages | 25K messages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twilio | $84.35$83.20 messages, $1.15 number | $417.15$416.00 messages, $1.15 number | $2,081.15$2,080.00 messages, $1.15 number |
| Vi INR 199 prepaid plan, 300 SMS in the plan table | Above the plan300 SMS a month for INR 199 per 28 days | Above the plan300 SMS a month for INR 199 per 28 days | Above the plan300 SMS a month for INR 199 per 28 days |
| textbee | $9.99Pro plan, up to 5,000 messages included | $9.99Pro plan, up to 5,000 messages included | $29.99Scale plan, up to 25,000 messages included |
textbee plans include the messages shown. There is no per message fee, number rental or carrier surcharge.
Provider prices checked on September 4, 2026
The textbee plan is the platform fee and the SIM plan is what the carrier charges for the messages, so a local setup costs the plan price plus the SIM.
Rules for application to person SMS in India
- Under the TRAI Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2018, commercial communication may only travel under a header registered with the access provider, and an unregistered subscriber who sends it can be put under a usage cap and then disconnected. trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
- TRAI requires any bulk sender, including senders of one time passcodes, transactional messages and service messages, to register as a Principal Entity, take a header, and register content templates before sending. trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
- A TRAI direction of 27 September 2011 limits an ordinary SIM to one hundred SMS per day, with exemptions only for the listed non commercial categories. trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
Sender ID and OTP delivery
Commercial SMS must go out under a header registered on the access provider distributed ledger platform, and the message must carry the Principal Entity ID, the header and the content ID. A plain 10 digit mobile number is not a registered header.
TRAI lists senders of one time passcodes among those who must register as a Principal Entity and register content templates before sending bulk communication. Recipients block commercial traffic by texting or calling short code 1909.
Quickstart
curl -X POST https://api.textbee.dev/api/v1/gateway/send-sms \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"recipients": ["+918123456789"], "message": "Your textbee code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'On a dual SIM phone, pass simSubscriptionId to pick the SIM the message goes out on, as the send reference describes.
Format and check India numbers
The API takes E.164, which for India looks like +918123456789, so strip any local trunk prefix before you send.
Result
Enter a phone number above.
Use E.164 format (e.g. +15551234567) for textbee.dev API recipients.
Count segments
A message over one segment is sent as more than one SMS, so it draws more than once on the SIM plan.
Result
- Characters: 54
- Encoding: GSM-7
- Segments: 1 SMS
- 1 segment = 1 SMS
GSM-7: 160 chars per segment (153 for multi-part). Unicode/emoji: 70 chars per segment (67 for multi-part). Carriers may charge per segment.
Honest limits
One phone sends roughly 10 to 15 messages a minute, so a large blast takes time to drain. Carriers can filter bulk patterns on consumer SIMs. Marketing messages still need consent from the recipient under the local rules.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send one time passcodes or bulk SMS from a normal Indian SIM?
The TRAI regulations of 2018 require commercial communication to use headers registered to the sender, and the TRAI advice to senders lists passcode and transactional senders among those who must register as a Principal Entity, take a header and register content templates. A subscriber who sends commercial communication without registering can be put under a usage cap of twenty outgoing messages a day and then disconnected.
Is there a daily SMS limit per SIM in India?
Yes. The TRAI direction of 27 September 2011 sets a limit of one hundred SMS per SIM per day, with exemptions only for the listed non commercial categories. The 2018 regulation adds a usage cap of twenty outgoing messages a day for numbers that send unregistered commercial traffic.
How do recipients block commercial SMS in India?
The regulation requires operators to let customers register their preferences free of cost by sending an SMS to short code 1909 or calling 1909, and to accept complaints against senders the same way within three days of the unsolicited message.
Sources
- SMS rules India, trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
- SMS rules India, trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
- SMS rules India, trai.gov.in, checked on September 4, 2026
- Vi Vi INR 199 prepaid plan, 300 SMS in the plan table, checked on September 4, 2026
- Twilio SMS pricing, India, checked on September 4, 2026