# The State of the Indian SMB Phone

Author: Scandum  
Published: 2026-08-27  
Updated: 2026-09-02  
Canonical: https://scandum.com/research  
Updated quarterly.

> What a missed call, a no-show and an unanswered quote cost a small business in India, by vertical, with the arithmetic shown. The research every number on scandum.com links back to.

## 1. A coaching institute loses ₹3.9L a month to five missed calls a day.

- Figure: ₹3.9L a month
- Kind: modelled
- Vertical: coaching-institutes
- Anchor: https://scandum.com/research#coaching-missed-calls

Method: Five missed enquiry calls a day over twenty-six working days is 130 missed enquiries a month. At a one-in-five enrolment rate that is twenty-six lost enrolments; at ₹15,000 average fees per enrolment, ₹3,90,000 a month.

| Input | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Missed enquiry calls a day | 5 |
| Working days a month | 26 |
| Enquiry-to-enrolment rate | 20% |
| Average fees per enrolment | ₹15,000 |

## 2. Clinics run 19% no-shows.

- Figure: 19% no-shows
- Kind: cited
- Vertical: clinics
- Anchor: https://scandum.com/research#clinic-no-shows

Method: The outpatient no-show rate carried in the 27 August 2026 research for Indian private clinics. The underlying study is filed with the research and is linked here when the founder attaches it.

Source file to be attached by the founder.

## 3. Quotes go unanswered, and the follow-up is a human on WhatsApp who forgets.

- Figure: 
- Kind: measured
- Anchor: https://scandum.com/research#quotes-unanswered

Method: Of the stale quotes businesses have sent Scandum through the twenty-quotes form, the share with any recorded follow-up after day five. Reported as a running count on /proof once the first twenty are worked; until then this row states the pattern, not a rate.

Source: [Proof: the twenty-quotes ledger](https://scandum.com/proof)

## 4. A lead called within sixty seconds is far likelier to answer and to book than one called the next day.

- Figure: 60 seconds
- Kind: cited
- Anchor: https://scandum.com/research#speed-to-lead

Method: The speed-to-lead effect is the most replicated finding in inside-sales research; Scandum's Lead Qualifier is built around a sixty-second first call. The specific study the research cites is filed with it.

Source file to be attached by the founder.

## 5. An AI Receptionist from ₹3,000 a month, compared with a salary, not with software.

- Figure: ₹3,000 a month
- Kind: measured
- Anchor: https://scandum.com/research#receptionist-vs-salary

Method: Scandum's published price for the AI Receptionist, on /pricing. A front-desk salary in Hyderabad is several times that before the second shift and the missed calls after hours.

Source: [Pricing](https://scandum.com/pricing)

## How to cite this page

Scandum. The State of the Indian SMB Phone. 2026-09-02. https://scandum.com/research

## Method notes

- modelled: Scandum's own arithmetic from stated inputs; the inputs are printed so a reader can recompute. An estimate, not a measurement.
- measured: read from Scandum's own records or published pages; the method names where.
- cited: carried from an external study filed with the research, linked once Scandum attaches the file.