Connect Exotel (full guide)

Why Exotel?

Exotel is the most popular Indian telephony provider for SMB outbound calling. Cualify integrates natively — you bring your ExoPhone, we route every campaign call through it with your DLT-registered headers, recorded transcripts in our dashboard, and CDR-grade billing.

Alternatives (Plivo, Twilio India, Knowlarity) work too but require manual API config — we automate Exotel because it covers the bulk of our customers.

Prerequisites

• An Indian business entity (Pvt Ltd, LLP, Proprietorship, or registered MSME)
• GSTIN + PAN for KYC
• A bank account for prepaid wallet top-ups (Exotel is prepaid)
• ~₹500 minimum top-up to start placing calls

No registered business yet? Use the trial pool instead. You can still test everything except production-volume calling.

Step 1 — Create an Exotel account

1. Sign up at exotel.com → choose "Sales" as the use case
2. Upload your KYC documents (GSTIN cert, PAN, address proof, signing authority's PAN) — usually verified within 1 business day
3. Once approved, you'll get an Account SID like yourcompany1 and access to the Exotel dashboard at my.exotel.com
4. Top up your Exotel wallet with at least ₹500 (Settings → Make a Payment)

Step 2 — Buy an ExoPhone

An ExoPhone is the Indian phone number your calls dial out FROM. It's also the number your recipient sees on their caller ID.

1. In Exotel dashboard → ExoPhones (left sidebar)
2. Click "+ Buy an ExoPhone" → pick a number you like
3. Most ExoPhones are ₹100-200/month (separate from per-call charges)
4. Within minutes the number is active and shows up under "My ExoPhones"

Step 3 — Get your API credentials

You need 3 values from Exotel — copy them somewhere safe:

1. Open Settings → API Settings on the Exotel dashboard
2. Note the Account SID (the URL-friendly form, e.g. yourcompany1)
3. Note the API Key (32-char hex)
4. Note the API Token (32-char hex)
5. Note the Subdomain — usually api.in for Indian accounts

Step 4 — Connect Exotel in Cualify

1. In Cualify, go to /integrations/telephony
2. Click "Connect Exotel"
3. Paste the SID, API Key, and API Token
4. Click "Verify + Save" — we test the credentials against your account before saving

Once saved, every campaign you launch will automatically dial from your ExoPhone. Test calls also auto-discover your ExoPhone so the from-number is correct.

Step 5 — Configure Bolna's Exotel provider

This step is needed because our voice infrastructure (Bolna) needs its own connection to your Exotel account too. It's a one-time setup.

1. Sign in at platform.bolna.ai
2. Open Providers in the sidebar → "+ Add Provider"
3. Pick Exotel
4. Paste the same Account SID + API Key + API Token from Step 3
5. For Subdomain: api.in (for Indian accounts)
6. For Outbound App ID + Inbound App ID: see the Exotel App Bazaar guide — you need to create these in Exotel's App Bazaar
7. Click Save

Step 6 — Add your ExoPhone to Bolna's My Numbers

1. In Bolna sidebar → My Numbers
2. Scroll to "Numbers owned with you from your connected telephony accounts"
3. Your ExoPhone should auto-appear after you save the Exotel provider. If it doesn't, click "+ Add Phone Number" → pick Exotel → enter the ExoPhone in E.164 format

Test the full chain

1. Back in Cualify, go to any playbook
2. Open the "Test call to me" panel
3. Type any phone number (no verification needed — Exotel doesn't have trial restrictions)
4. Click "Dispatch test call"
5. The recipient's phone rings, showing your Indian ExoPhone as caller ID

Troubleshooting

Error: "Calling from_number doesn't exist for exotel"

The ExoPhone hasn't been added to Bolna's My Numbers list (Step 6). Even though Cualify auto-discovers it, Bolna's validator wants it explicitly registered.

Error: "Insufficient credits"

Top up your Exotel wallet (Settings → Make a Payment). Cualify never deducts from your Exotel balance directly — Exotel bills you per-minute on the calls we dispatch.

Calls dispatch but recipient says caller ID shows a different number

Exotel routes through their carrier partners; for some operator-to-operator paths the caller ID is masked. This is operator behavior, not configurable from Cualify.

What's next?

• DLT registration — required for templated outbound to non-DND numbers
• Wire Cualify into your CRM