Ask three vendors what RCS costs and you may get three confusing answers. One quotes a headline price, another forgets GST, and nobody mentions what happens when a message cannot be delivered as RCS. If you are planning a campaign, you deserve a clearer picture. So here is a plain walk-through of RCS pricing in India for 2026, with real numbers you can plug into your own budget.
The Slab Rates
RCS is priced per message, and the rate drops as your monthly volume grows. All prices below exclude 18% GST:
- 5,000 to 9,999 messages: ₹0.50 each.
- 10,000 to 19,999: ₹0.40 each.
- 20,000 to 49,999: ₹0.35 each.
- 50,000 to 99,999: ₹0.32 each.
- 1,00,000 to 5,00,000: ₹0.30 each.
Below 5,000 or above 5,00,000 a month, you get a custom quote. In rupees, that works out to ₹2,500 for 5,000 messages, ₹4,000 for 10,000, ₹8,750 for 25,000, ₹16,000 for 50,000 and ₹30,000 for one lakh. The RCS pricing guide for India keeps these figures up to date.
A Note on “From ₹0.30”
You will often see “from ₹0.30 per message” in headlines. That is true, but only at one lakh messages a month or more. If you send 5,000, your starting rate is ₹0.50. Knowing this upfront saves you an awkward surprise when the first quote arrives.
What Happens When RCS Cannot Be Delivered
Not every phone can receive RCS, so a good setup includes SMS fallback. Messages that cannot be delivered as RCS are billed at your SMS rate instead, which runs from ₹0.40 down to ₹0.12 plus GST. This matters for budgeting, because your final bill is a mix of the two.
A Worked Example
Imagine you message 20,000 people. Assume 70 percent are RCS-eligible and 30 percent fall back to SMS. That is 14,000 RCS messages at ₹0.40, or ₹5,600, plus 6,000 fallback SMS at ₹0.40, or ₹2,400. The subtotal is ₹8,000, GST adds ₹1,440, and the total comes to ₹9,440. This excludes any one-time onboarding or API charges, and the exact slab applied to your volume should be confirmed in your quote.
A Simple Budget Formula
Use this rule of thumb: RCS messages times the RCS rate, plus fallback messages times the SMS rate, multiplied by 1.18 for GST, plus any one-time charges in your written quote. Drop in your own volumes and you have a solid first estimate.
What the Rate Does Not Include
Be careful with the fine print. Brand verification, onboarding and API requirements, and any carrier or iPhone-specific conditions are confirmed separately in a written quote. The page does not state a fixed RCS setup fee, so ask for it directly. Also remember that delivery depends on the device, app, operator and recipient, and no vendor can guarantee it.
Utility vs Marketing Messages
Utility messages cover order updates, bookings, receipts and reminders tied to an existing transaction. Marketing messages cover offers, launches and cart recovery, and must go only to customers who opted in. Both use the same slab rate, and your total monthly volume across them helps set the slab.
How Does It Compare?
Per message, RCS costs more than SMS but less than WhatsApp marketing. A WhatsApp marketing message is ₹0.8631 from Meta plus a provider fee, while a utility message is ₹0.115, which is cheaper than RCS. WhatsApp Business API also carries a ₹7,999 fee for three months plus GST. So the best channel depends on what you are sending, not on a single price tag.
What About Jio and iPhones?
A September 2026 report puts Jio’s charges for business RCS on iPhones at ₹0.27 to ₹0.30 for marketing, ₹0.25 for transactional and ₹0.11 to ₹0.16 for OTP. These are reported operator charges, not MetaReach prices, and no public Jio rate card has been seen. Ask for iPhone terms in writing before you plan volume.
How to Keep Costs Sensible
- Check your eligible audience. A large fallback share changes your effective cost.
- Test before you scale. Run a small campaign and compare conversions against SMS.
- Keep low-value alerts on SMS. Use RCS where a picture or button earns its place.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Before you commit, ask a few direct questions. Which slab will my volume fall into? What share of my audience is likely to fall back to SMS? Are there one-time charges for verification, onboarding or API work? How are iPhone messages billed? Clear written answers now will save you an unpleasant invoice later.