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by Rakesh Waghela

4.9 Communication (SMS, WhatsApp, email, IVR)

Channels

Section titled “Channels”
  • SMS — universal, DLT-registered, transactional + promotional.
  • WhatsApp — high engagement; via WhatsApp Business API.
  • Email — for documents, statements, longer communication.
  • IVR / voicebot — automated reminders, collection nudges.
  • Voice calls — by dialer for collection.

SMS

Section titled “SMS”

TRAI / DLT compliance

Section titled “TRAI / DLT compliance”
  • All SMS to Indian numbers must use DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) registered sender IDs and templates.
  • Lenders register as principal entity; templates pre-approved; senders pre-registered.
  • Transactional vs promotional segregation strict.

Vendor

Section titled “Vendor”
  • Gupshup (gupshup.io) — broad; SMS + WhatsApp; dominant.
  • Kaleyra (kaleyra.com) — telco-grade; established.
  • MSG91 (msg91.com) — developer-friendly.
  • Karix (karix.com) — enterprise.
  • Sinch (sinch.com) — global with strong India presence.

Pricing

Section titled “Pricing”
  • Per SMS: ₹0.15 – ₹0.30 depending on volume and content type.

WhatsApp

Section titled “WhatsApp”
  • WhatsApp Business API — via Meta-authorised vendors only.
  • Pre-approved templates for outbound; free-form for inbound replies.
  • Per-conversation pricing (Meta’s pricing model).
  • Best for: KFS delivery, statement delivery, reminders, customer support.

Vendor

Section titled “Vendor”
  • Gupshup, Karix, Sinch, Wati (wati.io) — WhatsApp Business solution providers.

Pricing

Section titled “Pricing”
  • Per user-initiated conversation: ~₹0.50 – ₹3 (Meta’s tier).
  • Per business-initiated conversation: higher; varies by category.

Email

Section titled “Email”
  • Transactional — bulletproof deliverability for KFS, statements, sanction letters, communication.
  • Promotional separate IP / domain.

Vendor

Section titled “Vendor”
  • Amazon SES — cheap, reliable; bring your own templates.
  • SendGrid / Mailgun / Postmark — managed transactional.
  • Zoho ZeptoMail — competitive India-priced.

Pricing

Section titled “Pricing”
  • SES: ~$0.10 per 1000 emails.
  • Managed: ~$0.50 – ₹2 per 1000 transactional.

IVR / voicebot

Section titled “IVR / voicebot”
  • Outbound automated calls for reminders.
  • Inbound IVR for borrower self-serve (balance, statement, payment).

Vendor

Section titled “Vendor”
  • Knowlarity (knowlarity.com), Exotel (exotel.com), Ozonetel (ozonetel.com), MyOperator (myoperator.co), Servetel.

Pricing

Section titled “Pricing”
  • Per minute: ₹0.30 – ₹1.50.

Dialer (for collections)

Section titled “Dialer (for collections)”
  • Predictive / preview / progressive dialing for agent productivity.
  • Call recording (mandatory for collections per FPC).
  • Disposition codes.
  • Compliance prompts (time-of-day, identity, lender disclosure).

Vendor

Section titled “Vendor”
  • Exotel, Knowlarity, Ozonetel, MyOperator.

Pricing

Section titled “Pricing”
  • Per agent per month + per minute usage.

Compliance

Section titled “Compliance”
  • DLT / TRAI for SMS.
  • DPDP — purpose-bounded; opt-out honoured.
  • FPC — collections communication rules.
  • Digital Lending Guidelines — KFS / sanction must be in vernacular per borrower choice.

Build vs buy

Section titled “Build vs buy”
  • Rails (SMS, WhatsApp, email, IVR): Buy.
  • Template management + multi-language: Build (in your config module).
  • Cadence / sequencing engine: Build.
  • Compliance prompts on dialer: Configure with vendor.