Follow compliance requirements for India
Promotional RCS for Business agents that operate in India must meet compliance requirements set by Google and local regulations. These requirements cover traffic limits, communication hours, and cross-agent promotional caps. They reduce end-user inbox fatigue and help maintain a sustainable, high-quality ecosystem for RCS for Business.
- Cross-agent promotional traffic limits: Google enforces cross-agent promotional traffic caps in India. These caps restrict the total number of promotional messages that a single user can receive per day from all low reputation agents combined.
- Communication hours: Businesses can initiate conversations with end users in India between 7:00 AM and 10:00 PM local time, 7 days a week.
Traffic limits for promotional agents
Promotional RCS for Business agents that operate in India are subject to traffic limits based on agent reputation over a rolling 28-day period. All agents that have been created start with a low reputation by default.
These traffic limits apply to:
- Total number of initial messages sent to a specific user within a rolling 28-day period.
- Total number of unique users an agent can reach within the same 28-day period.
- Total daily number of promotional messages sent to a specific user from the combined pool of low reputation agents.
Limits on initial messages for each user
The following table shows the maximum number of initial messages a single agent can send to a specific user. The limit depends on the agent reputation tier and applies within a rolling 28-day period.
| Agent reputation | Total initial messages an agent can send within a rolling 28-day period |
|---|---|
| High | 8 |
| Medium | 4 |
| Low | 2 |
Limits on total unique users
The following table shows the maximum number of unique users an agent can reach within a rolling 28-day period. The limit depends on the agent reputation tier.
| Agent reputation | Total unique users an agent can reach within a rolling 28-day period |
|---|---|
| High | 300 million |
| Medium | 25 million |
| Low | 1 million |
Cross-agent promotional traffic limits
Cross-agent promotional traffic limits enforce a shared daily message cap per user across all low reputation agents. This prevents message overload when multiple low reputation agents contact the same user on the same day.
How cross-agent limits work
The cross-agent limit sets a daily ceiling on promotional messages for a single user. The ceiling accounts for the combined volume from all low reputation agents.
Applicability
- Low reputation agents: The cross-agent limit applies only to promotional messages from agents in the low reputation tier.
- High and medium reputation exemptions: Promotional messages from high or medium reputation agents are exempt from this restriction. These messages do not count toward the daily cross-agent cap for a user.
- Dynamic throttling: Google calibrates the message cap and the 24-hour rolling window individually for each user to balance delivery and performance.
Operational details
- Conversation continuity exception: A low reputation agent can exceed the daily cap for a single reply. This applies when the end user has messaged that agent within the previous 24 hours. This exception preserves customer support flows and two-way interactions.
- Error handling: If the cross-agent limit blocks a message, the platform returns an HTTP 429 (
RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED) error. The error message is:The recipient's aggregate daily promotional message quota has been exceeded.
User consent confirmation for low reputation agents
For agents in the low reputation tier, Google Messages can prompt users in India to confirm consent before displaying message content.
Consent confirmation flow
When this flow is triggered:
- In both the push notification and the conversation list preview, the message content is replaced by a consent prompt: Allow messages from this business?
- The message content remains hidden until the user responds to the prompt.
The flow is triggered when:
- A low reputation promotional agent sends a message to a user without a prior conversation thread.
- The message is promotional in nature.
Impact on agents
- Reputation score: Frequent blocks from the consent prompt lower the reputation score and keep it low.
- Traffic limits: A user granting consent does not override the promotional traffic limits. Standard promotional traffic rules continue to apply to low reputation agents.
- Exemptions: Agents with a medium or high reputation are not subject to this consent prompt.
Recommended actions
- Follow best practices: To reduce block rates, make sure your agent follows the best practices for achieving and maintaining a high agent reputation.
- Monitor performance: Track delivery metrics and unsubscribe reasons. Use aggregated data on user preferences to adjust acquisition strategies in real time.
Improve agent reputation. To increase agent reputation and unlock higher traffic volumes, maintain consistent opt-in practices, send relevant content, and monitor end-user feedback. For more information, see Compliance and guidelines.
Airtel spam protection for RCS
Airtel and Google operate a joint spam protection framework for RCS messaging in India. The framework combines Airtel network intelligence with Google RCS platform-level filtering. It validates business senders and protects end users from spam and fraud.
RCS messages sent through the Airtel network are subject to the following real-time checks:
- Sender identity validation: Telco-backed business identity checks verify the sender before the message is delivered.
- Do Not Disturb (DND) enforcement: Messages are categorized as promotional or transactional. Promotional messages are blocked for subscribers who have activated DND. OTP and transactional messages are not affected.
- Spam message blocking: Business messages flagged by the joint Airtel and Google AI-powered spam filters are blocked before reaching the end user device.
- Malicious domain filtering: A multitiered threat detection layer filters messages that contain links to known malicious domains.
- Sender throttling: Messages from senders that are jointly flagged by Google and Airtel AI-powered spam filters are throttled.
These protections apply to RCS messages delivered through Google Messages on Android devices on the Airtel network. Make sure your agent and message content comply with RCS compliance and guidelines and Airtel carrier requirements.
Impact on RCS delivery
- Messages that fail sender identity validation or are flagged as spam are not delivered. For more information, see Manage RCS blocks and spam reports.
- Messages sent to subscribers with DND enabled for the relevant category are blocked at the carrier level.
- Monitor delivery metrics to identify affected traffic and adjust message categorization as needed.
- Ensure messages are categorized correctly (transactional vs. promotional) to avoid unintended blocking.
Airtel Do Not Disturb (DND)
Airtel subscribers can activate DND to block promotional communication, including both SMS and RCS messages. DND affects only promotional messages. OTP and transactional messages are not affected.
End users can activate DND in two ways:
- Using SMS: Send
FULLY BLOCKto1909(toll-free) from the default messaging app. To block specific categories, send one of the following codes to1909:
| Code | Category |
|---|---|
BLOCK 1 | Banking, insurance, credit cards, and financial products |
BLOCK 2 | Real estate |
BLOCK 3 | Education |
BLOCK 4 | Health |
BLOCK 5 | Consumer goods, automobiles, entertainment, and IT |
BLOCK 6 | Communication and broadcasting |
BLOCK 7 | Tourism and leisure |
BLOCK 8 | Food and beverages |
- Using the Airtel Thanks app: Search for "DND" in the app, select Activate/Deactivate DND, select the categories to block, and submit.
DND settings are managed by the end user at the carrier level. For delivery to resume to a subscriber who has blocked your message category, the end user must modify their DND preferences.