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Guide for Sending SMS Messages to India
In India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) enforces strict Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) guidelines to combat spam messages and streamline SMS campaigns. To send SMS messages in India, all businesses must register as a Principal Entity (PE) and get preapproval on their headers (sender IDs) and message templates.
General Guidelines and Deliverability
India is the second-largest mobile market in the world. Messaging growth continues to accelerate as rural areas in India get mobile coverage for the first time. Approximately 40% of the population uses smart phones. More than half of mobile devices are feature phones.
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| ISO 3166 Country Code | IN |
| International Dialing Code | 91 |
| Major Carriers |
|
| From Name/Alphanumeric Sender Code Support | Yes, must comply with DLT guidelines |
| Unicode Support | Yes |
| International Code Support | Yes |
| Message Length Maximum | 160 characters |
| Concatenation Support | Yes |
| Private/Dedicated Short Code | Long Code | Alpha | Alpha Preregistration Required | |
| Marketing Cloud Next Supported | No | No | Yes | Yes: If local, DLT registration is required. |
| Marketing Cloud Engagement Supported | No | Yes | Yes | Yes: If local, DLT registration is required. |
| 2-Way Support | No | No | -- | -- |
| Provisioning Time* | -- | 1 week for code provisioning. Doesn’t include time to complete registration for domestic India SMS services. | -- | Local registration is subject to carrier registration and approval timelines as part of the TRAI and DLT framework. International registration requires no additional time. |
Before you send SMS messages in India, link your account to the TRAI registry.
Step 1: Register in the DLT Portal
All businesses must register as a Principal Entity on a DLT portal that is provided by an Indian telecom operator. To complete the principal entity registration, you must provide these documents.
- GST Certificate
- PAN card
- Letter of Authorization
For more information, see DLT Registration Guide.
Step 2: Register the Headers and Templates
To complete the PE-TM binding in the DLT portal, map your Principal Entity (PE) to the Telemarketer (TM) using these corporate details.
- Telemarketer Entity Name:
Sinch Cloud Communication Services India Private Limited - TM ID:
102502720000073897
After your principal entity is approved, register your Headers (6-character Sender IDs) and Message Templates (message content) in the DLT portal. After your templates are approved, download them in .csv format.
You can manage your headers and templates through one of these TRAI-authorized DLT portals.
{#numeric#}, {#alphanumeric#}, or {#url#}
placeholders as per the 2026 TRAI guidelines. For more information, see the Header Verification Guide and Template Verification Guide.Step 3: Upload the .csv to Salesforce DLT Setup
After you download the approved .csv from the DLT portal, you must upload it to the India DLT Headers & Templates page within Salesforce Setup. For detailed steps, see Upload DLT Headers and Templates.
Before you upload your DLT templates, keep these considerations in mind.
- Each tenant supports only one PEID. Make sure that you enter the ID correctly; it cannot be modified or updated after it’s saved.
- Salesforce Setup doesn’t automatically validate your entry against the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) registry. Double-check your registry details before saving.
- When uploading data via CSV, make sure that the file contains no more than 10,000 records per upload attempt.
- Don’t alter the column structures or default content format of the CSV template. Editing the columns can introduce unsupported characters, corrupting the file, and causing template validation errors.
Compliance Requirements
For successful message delivery, adhere to these regulatory standards.
- Achieve high message throughput (MPS) by completing the DLT registration.
- Approvals for Principal Entity and SMS headers can take up to 4 days.
- Every template must include a valid
Consent_Typecategorized asImplicit,Explicit, orTransactionalto align with recipient permissions. - Promotional SMS messaging is permitted only between 10:00 AM and 9:00 PM. You can send transactional and OTP messages at any time.
- Strict adherence to TRAI guidelines is mandatory. When you send unapproved templates or use unregistered headers, carriers can block and fine you.
Marketing Cloud Engagement DLT Support
Marketing Cloud Engagement supports upload of DLT templates. Review these resources for more details.
Troubleshoot DLT Template Errors
Identify and resolve DLT template issues during the upload or activation process.
| Reason | Resolution |
|---|---|
| PEID mismatch | Verify that the 19-digit PEID in your CSV filename is an exact match for the PEID in the India DLT Headers & Templates page. |
| Encoding issues | DLT templates can’t contain non-UTF-8 characters. Indian carriers reject special characters that aren’t UTF-8 compliant. |
