Phone in India
The country code for India is 91. India is then divided into area codes, known locally as STD codes. See individual city guides for the area codes.
In acronym-happy India, a phone booth is known as a PCO (Public Call Office) and they usually offer STD/ISD (Subscriber Trunk Dialing/International Subscriber Dialing), or national and international long distance respectively. These are usually staffed, and you dial yourself but pay to the attendant after the call is over. Metering is done per pulse and a service charge of Rs 2 is added to the bill. Larger cities also have Western-style unmanned public phones, which are usually red in colour and accept one rupee coins.
Local phone numbers can be anywhere from 5 to 8 digits long. But when the area code is included, all landline phone numbers in India are 10 digits long. Cellphone numbers usually start with '9' or '8'. The following table explains how to dial:
| Calling from |
Price |
Syntax |
Example
|
|---|
| Same STD code |
Local |
number |
12345678
|
| Cellphone |
Local |
STD code of the town you are in number |
011-12345678
|
| Cellphone |
STD to Cellphone |
number |
012345678
|
| Different STD code |
STD |
0-area code-number |
022-12345678
|
| Overseas |
ISD |
+91-area code-number |
+91-22-12345678
|
Toll-free numbers start with 1-800 , but are usually operator-dependent: you can't call a BSNL/MTNL toll-free number from an Airtel landline, and vice versa. Often, the numbers may not work from your cellular phone. Other National Numbers that starts with 18xx or 19xx may attract special charges.
To dial outside the country from India, prefix the country code with 00. E.g a US number will be dialed as 00-1-555-555-5555. Calling the USA/Canada/UK over the normal telephone line will cost you about Rs 7.20 per minute. Calls to other countries, particularly to the Middle East, can be more expensive.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about India
