91 Country Code: How to Call India From the US
Country code 91 is India. To call India from the US, dial 011, then 91, then the ten-digit Indian number — 011-91-XXXXXXXXXX. On a mobile phone you can replace 011 with +, so the same number reads +91 XXXXXXXXXX.
That ten-digit rule hides the part that actually trips people up: Indian numbers come in two shapes. Mobiles are a clean ten digits. Landlines are a city code plus a subscriber number, and the city code you see written locally starts with a 0 that must be dropped when dialing internationally. This guide covers both shapes, the exact strings to dial, and what a +91 number on your caller ID does and does not tell you. For where 91 sits among the world’s codes, see our country code list.
Dialing 011-91: the frame around every Indian number
The US and the rest of the North American Numbering Plan use 011 as the international exit code. After 011 comes the destination country code — 91 for India — and then the national number. Mobile phones accept + in place of 011, which is why saved contacts in +91 format dial correctly from a cell phone but a desk phone may need the full 011 string.
In E.164 format — the format SIP trunks and dialers should store — every Indian number is +91 followed by ten digits: twelve digits total, comfortably inside the standard’s 15-digit maximum. If a number in your CRM has more or fewer digits after +91, something is wrong, and the usual culprit is shape number two below.
Shape one: mobiles — ten digits, first digit 6 through 9
Indian mobile numbers are a flat ten digits with no city code, and the first digit is 6, 7, 8, or 9. A mobile written locally as 98765 43210 dials from the US as:
011 91 98765 43210 — or +91 98765 43210 from a cell phone or SIP dialer.
Nothing is dropped and nothing is added. This is the easy shape, and since most Indian phone users are mobile-first, it is the shape you will dial most often. One domestic wrinkle you may hear about: since January 2021, calls from Indian landlines to Indian mobiles require a 0 prefix. That is an internal Indian dialing rule — it never applies to calls entering the country from abroad.
Shape two: landlines — STD code plus subscriber number, drop the 0
Indian landlines are written locally as an STD code (the city code) plus a subscriber number. STD codes vary in length — big metros have short codes and longer subscriber numbers, smaller towns the reverse — but code plus subscriber always totals ten digits once you remove the leading 0.
That leading 0 is India’s trunk prefix, the domestic long-distance marker. It is not part of the number. Dialing internationally, drop it:
- Delhi landline written locally as 011-2345-6789 → dial 011 91 11 2345 6789 (+91 11 2345 6789)
- Mumbai landline written locally as 022-6789-1234 → dial 011 91 22 6789 1234 (+91 22 6789 1234)
Yes — Delhi’s STD code is 011, the same digits as the US exit code. It is a coincidence, and it is exactly why pasting a locally written Indian landline into a dialer unmodified fails: you end up dialing the trunk 0 as if it were part of the number. Strip the 0, count ten digits, prepend +91.
Reading +91 on your caller ID
An incoming +91 call is a call presented as originating from an Indian number. If you have colleagues, vendors, family, or an outsourcing partner in India, that is routine traffic. If you have no connection to India, treat it with the same skepticism as any unexpected international call — and a bit more. A wave of scam and spam calls displaying +91 numbers has been widely reported in recent years, particularly on messaging apps, so an unfamiliar +91 number cold-calling you deserves screening, not trust.
The screening rule is the same one we give for every code: the display is a claim, not proof. Caller ID can be spoofed, so never return sensitive information to an inbound caller. If the caller claims to be your bank, a courier, or a tech-support desk, hang up and call the organization back on a number you looked up yourself.
US teams calling India — and Indian operations calling the US
India is a daily destination for US businesses: development teams, support operations, BPO partners, suppliers. Two practical notes. First, the clock — India runs on a single time zone, IST, 9.5 to 10.5 hours ahead of US Eastern depending on daylight saving, so US mornings overlap with Indian evenings. Second, the route: quality on international voice varies enormously by carrier path. No published A-Z deck here — bring us your India traffic profile and get a quote we are prepared to defend.
Traffic flows the other way too. Indian operations serving US customers need a US front door: local DID numbers where their customers are, or a toll-free number US customers can call at no cost. Both ride the same SIP trunk, delivered anywhere your PBX lives.
Frequently asked questions
Which country has the 91 country code?
India. Country code 91 covers the entire country — every Indian mobile and landline number is +91 followed by ten digits. Neighboring countries have their own codes (Pakistan is +92, Sri Lanka +94, Bangladesh +880), so +91 always means India. See the full country code list for how the +9x range is allocated across South Asia and the Middle East.
How do I call an Indian mobile number from the US?
Start with 011 — the US international exit code — then 91, then the ten-digit mobile number — for example 011 91 98765 43210. From a cell phone or a properly configured SIP dialer, +91 98765 43210 works identically. Indian mobiles are ten digits starting with 6, 7, 8, or 9, with no city code, so nothing needs to be dropped or added. Store the number in E.164 format and it will dial correctly from any platform.
Why do Indian landline numbers drop the 0 when called from abroad?
The leading 0 on an Indian STD code — the 0 in Delhi’s 011 or Mumbai’s 022 — is a trunk prefix used for domestic long-distance dialing inside India. The 0 is a domestic dialing cue rather than a digit of the number, so international callers skip it: the country code +91 replaces the 0. A Delhi landline written locally as 011-2345-6789 becomes +91 11 2345 6789. The same drop-the-0 rule applies in the UK, Germany, Australia, and most countries that use a 0 trunk prefix.
Is an unexpected call from a +91 number a scam?
Not automatically — +91 carries India’s entire legitimate phone traffic — but unexpected +91 calls to people with no India connection have been widely reported as a spam and scam pattern, especially on messaging apps. Screen it like any unknown international caller: do not share personal or financial information, and remember that caller ID can be spoofed, so the +91 display itself proves nothing. Verify any claimed organization by calling it back on its published number.
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