India SMS messaging regulations and restrictions

• Marketing messages can only be sent Mon-Sun, 9 AM to 9 PM
• Local transactional messages can be sent at any time

• This type of traffic can bypass the DND, however, the customer must be local and send transactional traffic
• A character sender ID must be registered for customers sending local traffic
• Sample content must be provided for whitelisting

Promotional (Domestic):

• Only local customers can send over the local binds
• This traffic will be checked against the DND

• All sender IDs will be overwritten with a shortcode
• OTT traffic should be sent via these binds

• You may not send more than six messages per hour with the same content, from the same sender, to the same number.
• Transactional routes cannot be used for sending any messages relating to stocks and/or shares. To use transactional routes for stock market activities, you’ll need to get certification from stockbrokers and/or entities registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• The certification must follow the guidelines below:
  1. Certification must be written on the entity’s company letterhead
  2. The entity should be registered with SEBI
  3. The entity should mention the command line interfaces (CLIs) to be used by them and the nature of the messages/content to be used
  4. Purchase order validity
• No opt-in messages should be sent via
  transactional routes.
• An opt-in message can be sent to the end-user
  only if s/he has submitted a documented approval
• Web opt-ins are not accepted as approved opt-ins.
• Any invitations related to social media/websites/OTTs need to have their content confirmed and whitelisted prior to being sent via transactional accounts, and violating this can result in heavy fines.

• Sender ids will be overwritten for local promotional and ILDO traffic
• Whitelisting of 6 character length sender ids is require to send over the transactional route

• Message templates must be provided
• Service description must be provided
• Website link