Missed-Call Text-Back Without Porting: Forwarding Codes and Costs

Missed-call text-back works without porting: keep your SIM and number, and turn on conditional call forwarding so only busy, unanswered and unreachable calls go to the service that sends the text. The standard GSM codes are **61*number# for unanswered calls and **67*number# for busy ones, and Vi documents them; on Jio, set it in call settings or the MyJio app, where the forwarding service is free.

Customers keep dialling the number on your van and visiting cards. What changes is who replies when nobody picks up, and from which number, which the second half of this page covers.

Conditional call forwarding codes for Jio, Airtel and Vi

Conditional call forwarding moves a call to another number only under a condition: your line is busy, you don't answer, or your phone is off or out of coverage. Unconditional forwarding moves every call and your own phone stops ringing, so leave that one off.

*Standard GSM code (works on most networks; check with your operator). Replace number with the 10-digit number the calls should go to.

Vi prints these codes on its voicemail help page (Vi), and its call-forwarding guide also gives single-star versions such as *61*number# (Vi guide). Airtel's help page names 61, 67 and 62 as its unanswered, busy and unreachable codes but prints them without the leading stars, as 61*SecondaryNumber# (Airtel). On Airtel, use the Airtel Thanks app or your phone's call settings, which let you pick busy, unanswered or unreachable (Airtel app steps).

Jio's mobile help routes setup through Settings > Call > Advance settings > Call forwarding, or MyJio > Profile > Mobile Settings > Service Settings > Call Forwarding (Jio). The landline codes come from Jio's JioFiberVoice help page, which lists the short codes only, so ask JioCare for the full dialling format (Jio).

To switch forwarding off:

• Vi: ##002# clears every type at once, and ##61#, ##67# or ##62# clears one (Vi guide).
• Airtel: ##21# switches off forwarding of all calls, and *#21# shows its status (Airtel). Turn busy and no-answer forwarding off in the Airtel Thanks app or phone settings, or dial ##002#, the standard GSM code for clearing all forwarding (works on most networks; check with your operator).
• Jio: *404 stops no-answer, *406 busy, *410 not reachable, and *413 all of them (Jio).

Set it up in five minutes

1. Choose the destination. A colleague's phone, or the number of the service that sends your text-back. On Jio it cannot be a BSNL number, your own Jio number or an international number.
2. Set the ring time. On Vi, unanswered calls forward after 30 seconds by default, and **61*number*10*20# forwards after 20 seconds, about 7 rings (Vi).
3. Turn on each condition separately. On Android, open the Phone app > Settings > Calling accounts > your SIM > Call forwarding, then set when busy, when unanswered and when unreachable (Vi guide). Menu names vary by brand.
4. On an iPhone, use the carrier app or the codes. Jio notes that iPhone settings only offer unconditional forwarding (Jio).
5. Test from a second phone. Let one call ring out, make one while you're on another call, and make one with your phone switched off. Check that each reply reaches the calling phone, not yours.

If you use carrier voicemail, check what it has done to your settings first. Vi's voicemail service is switched on by forwarding busy, unanswered and unreachable calls to a voicemail number, so your own forward replaces it (Vi).

What does call forwarding cost?

• Jio: the call forward service is free of cost, as long as you have an active plan (Jio).
• Airtel: you are charged "appropriate charges" when you forward to a long-distance or toll number (Airtel). The forwarded leg is billed to you, so check your plan's rate for calls to the destination.
• Personal prepaid packs: Airtel's terms say its prepaid unlimited packs with daily data are "only meant for personal and non-commercial use" (Airtel terms). If your business line forwards dozens of calls a day, a postpaid or business connection is the safer home for it.

Who sends the text-back?

Forwarding only moves the call. Something still has to send the text, and that choice decides what the customer sees.

How we compared: prices from each provider's official page (Knowlarity, MyOperator), checked in September 2026. Prices exclude 18% GST unless stated.

Only the app sends from your existing number, because only the phone holding the SIM can. It never sees calls diverted while that phone is off or out of coverage, so pair it with a provider or a colleague for those.

A provider receives your forwarded calls on its own number and sends the SMS from a registered sender name, so ask it to confirm that its number accepts forwarded calls and texts the original caller. India's business SMS rules then apply: you register as a sender on DLT with a header and content template (TRAI, 2025), and any link or call-back number in the message must be whitelisted (TRAI direction, 20 Aug 2024). Finish that registration before you switch forwarding on.

A WhatsApp reply works the same way, through an API provider that sends an approved template when the forwarded call lands. Meta decides whether the template counts as utility or marketing, which sets the rate, so ask for the trigger by name before you sign up.

Rules for automated replies and callbacks in India

• Keep it a plain reply. TRAI's rules route commercial messages, service or promotional, through registered headers or special number series such as 140. A one-to-one reply from your own SIM is a grey area, so leave out offers and links.
• The 7-day window. TRAI's September 2026 amendment allows commercial communication for 7 days after an enquiry made "in writing or through digital means" and kept in verifiable form (TRAI regulation). It does not say whether a missed call counts, so keep follow-ups to what the caller asked about.
• Automatic callbacks. The same amendment, notified on 18 September 2026, treats a call placed by software without a person dialling as an "A2P call". Senders must declare A2P calls to their operator in advance once that part takes effect, 60 days after Gazette publication (TRAI PR 119/2026).

For the message itself, use our missed-call reply templates, which are written in English and Hinglish to fit one SMS. For a side-by-side of every no-code option, see five no-code ways to auto-reply to missed calls.

Where TalkEasy fits

TalkEasy by GrowEasy takes the other route: a new cloud business number that runs in an Android app alongside each person's SIM, shared by the whole team. With missed-call automation turned on, TalkEasy calls back customers whose calls were missed, 24x7, following your routing and availability rules (TalkEasy).

If a text reply is all you need, you don't need a new number: an auto-reply app on your current phone does it.

• Weighing forwarding against a new number or porting? Compare the routes in keeping your existing number while automating missed calls.
• Replying on WhatsApp? Read whether a virtual number works for WhatsApp Business.
• Running ads that say "give a missed call"? That is a campaign number; see the missed call alert service guide.

Moving the team to one shared number? See how TalkEasy missed-call automation calls customers back.

Last reviewed 24 September 2026.