How to get the WhatsApp Business API in India (2026): what you need, the ten-minute signup, and what it costs

What you are actually getting

The WhatsApp Business app on your phone and the WhatsApp Business Platform are different products. The app is free, one phone, one person, and cannot be automated. The Platform — what everyone calls the API — is Meta's cloud service that lets software send and receive messages on your number: a shared inbox for a team, templates for messages you start, an assistant that replies, campaigns, and the payment card in the chat. Meta charges nothing for access. It charges per message, by category, at rates it publishes per country (the India rate card).

What you need before you start

• A Facebook Business portfolio (business.facebook.com). Free. If you run Facebook or Instagram ads you already have one.
• A phone number that is not registered on WhatsApp. A number in use on the app or the Business app must be deleted from the app first (Settings › Account › Delete my account); chat history does not move. Landlines work — verification is by call. A second SIM or a virtual number is the usual answer for a business that wants to keep its personal WhatsApp.
• A display name that matches your business — the name on your signboard, your website or your GST registration. Meta reviews it and rejects names that are generic ("Sales"), that impersonate another brand, or that are all capitals.
• Business verification documents, for later: a GST certificate, a certificate of incorporation, a utility bill in the business's name — any one that shows the legal name and address.

The signup, step by step

1. Start a Linkubit workspace and open Channels › WhatsApp › Connect. This opens Meta's Embedded Signup in a popup on facebook.com — you are signing into Meta, not handing Linkubit a password.
2. Choose or create the Business portfolio, then create a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) inside it.
3. Add the number and its display name. Meta sends a code by SMS or calls the number; enter it.
4. Meta hands the connection back to Linkubit, which registers the number for the Cloud API and subscribes to the webhooks that deliver messages to your inbox. This is the step a manual setup most often gets wrong — a number that sends but never receives is a number nobody subscribed.
5. Send yourself a message. It should appear in the inbox within a second.

What happens after: limits, verification, the badge

A new number can start 250 business-initiated conversations in a rolling 24 hours. Replies to customers who wrote first are not counted. Once Meta verifies the business — you upload one document in Business Manager › Security Centre, and it takes a few days — the limit rises to 1,000, then 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited as you use half of each tier within a week while keeping a green quality rating. Since late 2025 the limit is per Business portfolio rather than per number. The quality rating and limits guide has the mechanics.

The verified badge — the blue tick, formerly green — is a separate application, free on the Platform, and not required to send. The badge guide covers who gets it.

What it costs

Some providers print a per-message rate above Meta's. The comparisons show which, from their own pricing pages.

Common ways it goes wrong

• The number is still on the app. Embedded Signup refuses it. Delete the account in the app first, or use another number.
• The display name is rejected. Use the name on your registration; drop "Official", emojis and all-caps.
• Messages send but nothing arrives. The provider did not subscribe to the WABA's webhooks. In Linkubit this is automatic; elsewhere, ask.
• Verification stalls. The document's legal name must match the portfolio's exactly, and the address must be visible.