Set Up a Virtual Business Number in India: 9 Steps and KYC List

• Your business registration: GST certificate, or a Shop and Establishment licence if you're a sole proprietor without GST.
• The business PAN, ID proof for the person signing up (Aadhaar, voter ID, driving licence or passport) and a passport-size photo.
• A company email address, not Gmail or Yahoo: Exotel requires a business email domain to register.
• The names and phone numbers of everyone who will answer calls.
• A phone outside the team, ideally one each on Jio, Airtel and Vi, for the test calls in step 8.

Write one line: “This number is for ___.” Inbound enquiries and a shared sales and service line are fine on an ordinary business number. Outbound calls need more care, because TRAI’s rules now depend on the type of call:

• Promotional calls to people who never contacted you must come from a 140-series number, which needs a sender registration with a telecom operator (PIB).
• Service and transactional calls are moving to dedicated series: 1600 for banking, finance, insurance and government, and 1601 for other sectors, starting with utilities and courier and logistics (ThePrint/PTI, August 2026).
• Callbacks to people who asked may count as service calls, so ask your provider which series applies to your sector before you start.

• 10-digit mobile series if you want it to look like an ordinary mobile and plan to use it on WhatsApp.
• City landline (DID) with a code like 011 or 080 if you want a local office feel.
• 1800 toll-free only for a helpline you'll advertise widely; callers pay nothing and you pay for the minutes.

The WhatsApp Business app accepts mobile and landline numbers you own, but not VoIP or toll-free numbers (WhatsApp Help Center). Our guide to virtual number types explains the other types.

Count the people who will answer, not just today but in six months. Per-user plans grow with each hire, while flat plans cover a set number of users or unlimited users for one price.

Then check the billing period and what a small team actually pays. Entry plans run from about ₹300 a month for a two-user plan to ₹999 a month for TalkEasy Pro with unlimited users (TalkEasy pricing), plus 18% GST.

Some providers bill monthly, some quarterly or longer, and some yearly, which can mean ₹60,000 plus GST up front. Compare providers in our best virtual number providers list.

KYC is mandatory. DoT's May 2024 instructions require KYC of each end user before a business connection is activated, and paper-based KYC was discontinued from 1 January 2024, with narrow exceptions allowed since March 2024 (AZB & Partners, JSA). Providers set the exact list, and Exotel's is typical:

Exotel wants self-attested, clear scans under 5 MB each, plus proof of the business address (the GST certificate, a utility bill under three months old, or a bank statement) and a signed authorisation letter if the signatory is not a director (Exotel KYC guide). Other providers ask for more, or less:

• Zoom Phone India also asks for an authorisation letter for the signatory, a passport-size photo, and proof of the address the number is registered to, which it physically verifies. Under DoT’s KYC circular of 16 June 2025, it also requires a live photo or short video check against the government ID (Zoom).
• Some providers let you complete KYC with Aadhaar alone and keep using the number without adding GST details.

How long approval takes:

• MyOperator: minutes with Aadhaar e-KYC. Its help pages quote manual KYC anywhere from 3–4 hours to about 48 hours, so ask which applies to your account (MyOperator support).
• Acefone: “a handful of hours”.
• Exotel: typically 2–3 business days after complete documents, and up to 5 if manual review is needed (Exotel KYC guide). Until then your account stays in trial mode, with limited minutes and no production virtual number (Exotel FAQ).

Exotel lists a company name that doesn’t match across your documents and the sign-up form as a common cause of delay. Use the business name exactly as it appears on your GST certificate or licence, everywhere. While you wait, do step 6.

Decide three things before you add anyone:

1. Who answers first during office hours, and how long it rings before the next person.
2. Who covers after hours, weekends and holidays, or whether calls go to a message.
3. Who owns missed calls and calls them back, with a deadline such as 15 minutes.

You then set these as rules in the provider's app. TalkEasy, for example, routes incoming calls by sales team, department or availability, with different rules for office hours and after-hours (team collaboration).

If you record calls, tell callers at the start. Recordings can hold personal data, so the DPDP Act, 2023 is relevant: its Rules were notified on 14 November 2025 with an 18-month phased timeline, and they require clear consent notices that state the purpose of collection (PIB).

A short announcement you can use:

English: "Thank you for calling [Business name]. This call may be recorded for quality and training." **Hinglish: "[Business name] mein call karne ke liye dhanyavaad. Quality aur training ke liye yeh call record ho sakti hai."

Decide who may listen to recordings, and keep that list short.

Use the outside phones, and repeat the first test from each network.

Fix anything that fails, then run that test again. Don't publish until all six pass.

Put the new number on your Google Business Profile first. Android's Phone app looks up numbers that aren't in a person's contacts to show a business caller ID name, and Google says to update your business info to change the name or number it shows (Google).

Then update your website, invoices and letterhead, directory listings such as JustDial and IndiaMART, ad accounts, and WhatsApp Business. Keep the old number live and forward it. On Airtel and Vi, dial *21*<new number># to forward all calls and ##002# to cancel (Vi, Airtel). On Jio, use the phone's call-forwarding setting or the MyJio app (Jio). If you want to move the old number itself, read how to keep your number when you switch.

TalkEasy gives a team one shared business number in an Android app (Android 7.0 or later), with call routing, recording, call history and analytics. Whoever answers, the call lands in the same shared history. The AI Receptionist can answer calls, capture leads, and transfer a call or arrange a callback.

Pro costs ₹999 a month plus GST for unlimited users and contacts, with 3 hours of talktime a day, and you can cancel anytime (pricing). TalkEasy's published price list does not list IVR menus or WhatsApp features. If you need a multi-level IVR menu or a WhatsApp suite, MyOperator is the stronger fit (Sedan is ₹5,000 a month for 10 users, billed annually). See how the TalkEasy business number works.

Conclusion

Getting a business phone number goes quickly once the order is right: decide what the number is for, choose the type and plan, finish KYC with documents that match, set the call route, and prove it with six test calls before you print it anywhere. Most delays come from KYC, so start there and use the waiting time to write your call route and announcement.

Keep your old number forwarded while customers learn the new one, and repeat the test calls whenever your team or office hours change. Keep the list of people who can hear recordings short, and review it when someone leaves the team.

If your whole team answers from one shared number and you want routing, recording and a call log without extra hardware, TalkEasy runs in an app alongside your existing SIM.

Talk to our expert to see whether it fits your team.