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Telephone numbers in India

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Fixed-line (landline) numbers

Subscriber trunk dialling (STD) codes are assigned to each city, town and village. These codes can be between 2 and 8 digits long, with the largest metropolitan areas and cities having the shortest (two-digit) codes:

Second-tier cities and metropolitan areas, as well as large or particularly significant towns have three-digit area codes:


The first-ever long-distance subscriber trunk dialing (STD) call in India was made between the cities of Kanpur and Lucknow in 1960.

The total length of all phone numbers (area code and the phone number) is constant at 10 digits. For example, the number 7513200000 signifies the area code 751 (the area code for Gwalior) followed by the phone number.

Fixed-line or landline numbers are at most 8 digits long.

Fixed-line operators

Due to the availability of multiple operators offering fixed-line (landline) services (either wired or wireless), there is an operator code for each telephone number, which is the first digit in the phone number.

For example, a number formatted in the style (020) 3xxx-xxxx represents a fixed-line number in Pune operated by Jio, while (011) 2xxx-xxxx is a fixed-line number in Delhi operated by MTNL, and (07582) 2xx-xxx is a fixed-line number in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh operated by BSNL.

Format for dialling fixed-line numbers

No prefix is required to call from one landline to another within the same area code, as variable-length dialling rules apply. A prefix of the number zero + the area code is required to dial from a landline phone in one STD code area to another. The same prefix of the number zero + the area code is required to dial any fixed-line number in India from a mobile phone, irrespective of the area code.

For example, to dial a landline number in Gwalior, one would have to dial

  • from a landline in Gwalior: the phone number
  • from a landline in Mumbai: 0751 and then the phone number
  • from any mobile phone in India: 0751 and then the phone number
  • from outside India: +91, then 751, and then the phone number

Before 10 March 2009, as per Department of Telecommunications memorandum dated 9 February 2009. there were some exceptions to this general rule for STD areas falling close to each other (within a radius of 200 kilometre), where "0" can be replaced with "95" e.g. to dial Delhi from Gurgaon, one dials 9511+landline number.

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