Choosing a telephony provider for AI calls in India: Exotel, Plivo, Twilio or SIP

Updated 2026-09-19 · 5 min read · By the Convo360 team

The four options at a glance

None of these is universally 'best', the right pick depends on where your callers are and what you already run.

A useful way to narrow it down quickly: if you're starting from zero and every caller is in India, Exotel or Plivo will usually get you live fastest, since both rent Indian numbers. If you're already a Twilio customer for SMS or another product, staying on Twilio avoids managing a second vendor relationship. And if you already run a call centre with an existing PBX, a SIP trunk connects the AI agent into what you have rather than replacing it.

Number types and inbound vs outbound

Most providers offer local virtual numbers, toll-free numbers, and in some cases mobile-style numbers, each with different caller trust levels, a local landline-style number often gets picked up more readily than an unfamiliar toll-free number for outbound calling.

Incoming call charges depend on your telephony provider and plan, which matters if your main use case is inbound support or an AI receptionist: Plivo's India price list shows inbound at ₹0.38 per minute, the same as outbound, and Exotel says incoming calls are charged at your bill-plan rate. Check the provider's current price list. Outbound minutes are paid to the provider at their own rates too, so outbound-heavy use cases like appointment reminders or collections calls should factor that into planning. Convo360 adds no per-minute fee.

Think about the shape of your calling pattern before picking a number type. A support line that mostly receives calls benefits from a memorable, trusted-looking number. An outbound reminder or survey campaign benefits more from provider reliability at volume and clean delivery reporting, since you're placing many calls in a short window rather than waiting for callers to dial in one at a time.

KYC and getting a number live

Indian telecom regulations require KYC (know-your-customer) documentation before a business number goes live, especially for numbers used for outbound calling. Exotel and Plivo, being India-focused, generally have this process well-templated for Indian businesses. Twilio's India pricing pages say it has no voice-enabled numbers in this locale, so for an Indian number use Exotel, Plivo or a SIP trunk; Twilio works for outbound calls to India and for international numbers. A SIP trunk skips number-provisioning KYC in the same form because you're bringing your own existing trunk, though your own telecom vendor will have its own compliance requirements.

Budget a few working days for KYC and number activation regardless of provider, don't plan a launch for the same day you sign up.

Keep your business documents (registration, address proof, authorised signatory details) ready before you start the sign-up process with any provider, most delays come from back-and-forth on documentation rather than the review itself taking long.

Connecting your provider on Convo360

1. Create an account with your chosen provider (Exotel, Plivo, Twilio) or set up your SIP trunk, and complete their KYC if required.
2. In Convo360, go to Phone Numbers and choose to connect a number, paste in your provider's API keys once (BYOK).
3. Create or install a voice agent, set its voice and language, and assign it to the number.
4. Choose whether the number handles inbound, outbound, or both.
5. For outbound, launch a campaign to call a contact list; for inbound, the agent answers automatically using the inbound call trigger in the Flow Builder.
6. Test with a real call before going live, checking Call behaviour settings (background noise handling, interruption tolerance) for the environment your callers will be in.

Because it's BYOK, switching providers later mostly means reconnecting new keys under Phone Numbers, your flows and agents don't need to be rebuilt.

This also means you can run more than one provider at once if it suits your business, for example, a toll-free Exotel number for inbound support and a separate outbound-optimised number for reminder calls, since each number connects to its own agent and settings independently.

What this means for your monthly bill

Convo360's own plan pricing covers the platform, the Pro plan (₹2,999/month, ex-GST) unlocks AI voice calling and all integrations. Telephony usage itself is separate and paid directly to your chosen provider, at their own published rates, since Convo360 adds no markup on minutes. This is worth comparing conceptually against closed platforms that bundle telephony into a per-minute platform fee, with BYOK, what you see on your telephony provider's invoice is what you actually paid, with nothing added on top.

Common mistakes when picking a provider

A few avoidable issues come up often when businesses set up telephony for the first time:

• Choosing a number type without checking caller trust. An unfamiliar-looking number can get ignored on outbound calls even if the call quality is fine, a locally recognisable number format usually performs better.
• Starting KYC at the last minute. Documentation delays are the most common reason a launch date slips, start this in parallel with building your flows, not after.
• Assuming all providers behave identically on SIP. If you're bringing your own SIP trunk, confirm call quality and concurrency limits with your telecom vendor before committing a launch date to it.
• Not testing with real handsets. A call that sounds fine on a good broadband connection can behave differently on a caller's patchy mobile signal, test on a few different networks before scaling up.

None of these are Convo360-specific, they apply to setting up any telephony provider for business calling in India, AI-handled or not.

Step by step

1. Decide inbound, outbound or bothYour primary use case (support vs outbound reminders) affects which provider and number type make sense.
2. Pick a providerChoose Exotel or Plivo for India-first speed, Twilio for global reach, or SIP if you already run telecom infrastructure.
3. Complete KYC and get a numberSign up with the provider, complete their KYC process, and activate a number — budget a few working days.
4. Connect it on Convo360Under Phone Numbers, paste your provider's API keys and assign a voice agent to the number.
5. Test before going livePlace real test calls and adjust Call behaviour settings for background noise and interruptions before launching.

Example conversation

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

Available across India — see WhatsApp & AI calling automation by state and city.