Short answer: Most Indian providers quote IVR surveys per pulse — 30 seconds of an answered call — at anywhere from about ₹0.05 to ₹0.45 depending on volume. But the number that matters is cost per completed survey, which depends on how many people answer, how many finish, and how long the survey runs. For a short 5–6 question survey, airtime alone typically lands in the ₹1.50–₹3 range per completed response, before setup, compliance and GST.
Here’s how to work out your own number — and how to avoid being surprised by the invoice.
Why per-pulse pricing is misleading
A pulse rate tells you what one answered 30-second chunk costs. It tells you nothing about:
- how many calls go unanswered (usually free, but they still cost you time and retries)
- how many people hang up at question 2 (you still pay for their pulses)
- how long a completed survey takes (a 3-minute survey = 6 pulses, not 1)
- what’s added on top: DLT, recording, translation, GST
Providers’ quoted rates vary so widely that one Indian industry analysis described bulk voice pricing as one of the least transparently published figures in telecom. The only fair comparison between two quotes is the cost of the thing you actually want: a finished response.
The formula
Cost per completed survey = (Total billed pulses × Rate per pulse + Fixed costs) ÷ Completed surveys
Where:
- Total billed pulses = (completers × pulses per complete) + (drop-offs × average pulses before hanging up)
- Fixed costs = script, voice recording, translation, DLT template registration, setup
- Add 18% GST to the total
A worked example
Illustrative assumptions — your answer and completion rates will differ by audience, time of day and language.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Numbers dialled | 10,000 |
| Answer rate | 35% → 3,500 answered |
| Completion rate (of answered) | 40% → 1,400 completes |
| Drop-offs | 2,100, averaging 2 pulses each |
| Survey length | 3 minutes → 6 pulses per complete |
| Rate | ₹0.20 per pulse |
Pulses billed: (1,400 × 6) + (2,100 × 2) = 8,400 + 4,200 = 12,600 pulses
Airtime: 12,600 × ₹0.20 = ₹2,520
Airtime per completed survey: ₹2,520 ÷ 1,400 = ₹1.80
Notice what drives that number. Cut the survey from 6 pulses to 4 and the cost per complete drops by roughly a quarter. Lift completion from 40% to 55% and it drops again. Survey design saves more money than rate negotiation.
Hidden costs to budget for
DLT and number setup. Promotional voice campaigns need registration on your operator’s DLT platform and a 140-series number. Some providers bundle this; others bill it separately.
Recording and translation. A professional voice in Telugu, Hindi and English is three recordings, not one. Budget for re-records when questions change.
Retries. Re-dialling unanswered numbers raises completes but also raises billed pulses from people who answer on the second try and drop off.
DND loss. If your survey is classified as a promotional call, calls to numbers on the DND registry are blocked. TRAI’s data for Q1 FY 2026-27 showed about 1 in 9 promotional calls blocked this way — so 10,000 numbers dialled may mean closer to 8,875 reachable.
GST. 18% on the total, which quotes often leave out.
How to raise completion (and lower cost)
- Keep it under 3 minutes. Every extra question is another chance to hang up. In one 2025 study of a 15-question IVR survey (about 8 minutes), over 90% of enrolled respondents picked up, but fewer than half completed every question.
- Name the organisation in the first line. Unknown callers get hung up on.
- Survey in the respondent’s language. Offer “press 1 for Telugu, 2 for Hindi” up front.
- Call at the right time. Evenings often perform better for working-age respondents — test two windows on a small batch first.
- Use single-key answers. “Press 1 for yes, 2 for no” beats anything that needs a number longer than one digit.
- Follow up on WhatsApp. Send non-completers a short WhatsApp survey link — different channel, lower marginal cost.
IVR vs live callers vs WhatsApp
| Method | Best for | Relative cost per complete | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| IVR survey | Large samples, short closed questions, feature-phone users | Lowest | Drop-off on long surveys |
| Live callers (CATI) | Complex or open-ended questions | Highest — operators cost several times the airtime | Interviewer bias, slow to scale |
| WhatsApp survey | Smartphone users, richer answers | Low | Excludes feature-phone and low-literacy respondents |
Many teams now run IVR first for reach, then WhatsApp for follow-up and richer answers.
Questions to ask any provider
- Do you bill per pulse or per minute, and only for answered calls?
- What’s the all-in cost per completed survey at my volume, including DLT, recording and GST?
- Are retries charged, and how many are included?
- Can I get raw response data per question, including where people dropped off?
- Which number series will my calls come from?
Frequently asked questions
How much does an IVR survey cost in India? Airtime is usually quoted at about ₹0.05–₹0.45 per 30-second answered pulse. For a short survey, the real cost per completed response is typically a few rupees once drop-offs, setup and GST are included.
What is a pulse in voice calling? A billing unit of 30 seconds (sometimes 15 or 60) of an answered call. A 3-minute survey uses 6 pulses of 30 seconds.
Is an IVR survey cheaper than calling people manually? Almost always, at any meaningful sample size. A Microsoft Research India study (2013) found a live operator cost around three times as much per minute as the call itself — and IVR can run thousands of calls in parallel.
What completion rate should I expect? It varies widely with audience, length and language. Treat 30–50% of answered calls as a planning range for a short survey, and measure your own on a pilot batch of 500–1,000 numbers.
Want a cost-per-completed-survey quote instead of a per-pulse rate card? Tell us your sample size and survey length
Sources: LeadNXT, Voice SMS Services Pricing in India 2026; JMIR Formative Research (2025), IVR patient-satisfaction survey study; Chakraborty et al., Man versus Machine: Evaluating IVR versus a Live Operator for Phone Surveys in India, ACM DEV 2013; TRAI Press Release No. 111 of 2026.