Short answer: a Hindi IVR is a normal keypad phone menu whose prompts are in Hindi. You can make those prompts with Hindi text-to-speech (type the text, the system speaks it) or with recorded audio (a person reads the script, you upload the file). Text-to-speech wins when prompts change often or include per-caller details such as a name or an amount; recordings win for a short, fixed greeting you want to sound warm. Most Hindi IVRs that work well use both.
This guide covers the Hindi-specific decisions. For general menu design (how many options, option order, what to do on no input) see IVR menu design and how to write an IVR script.
Who Needs a Hindi IVR
If your callers are in the Hindi belt (UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Himachal) a Hindi-first menu is usually the right default. Outside those states Hindi still works for a large share of callers, but you should offer English as a choice, and consider a recorded regional-language branch for your biggest state.
Common Hindi IVR uses we see in India:
- Front desk menus for clinics, coaching institutes, real estate sales offices and dealers.
- Outbound confirmation calls in Hindi: COD order confirmation, appointment confirmation, delivery slot confirmation.
- Reminder calls: EMI dues, school fees, renewals, with "press 1 to talk to us".
- Keypad feedback after a visit or a delivery.
Text-to-Speech or Recorded Prompts
| Hindi text-to-speech | Recorded Hindi audio | |
|---|---|---|
| Edit a prompt | Change the text, publish | Re-record, re-upload |
| Per-caller details (name, order, amount) | Yes, with variables | No, the recording is fixed |
| Sound | Clear, neutral | As good as your speaker |
| Consistency across 20 prompts | Same voice every time | Depends on recording in one session |
| Best for | Menus that change, outbound calls with details | A fixed greeting, a brand voice |
The deeper trade-off is covered in recording vs text-to-speech. For Hindi specifically, two points matter more than usual:
- Personal details push you to text-to-speech. A call that says "नमस्ते राहुल जी, आपकी EMI की तारीख पंद्रह अक्टूबर है" cannot be pre-recorded for every customer.
- A recorded greeting fixes the "robot" first impression. Callers decide in the first two seconds whether to listen. A human "नमस्ते, शर्मा डायग्नोस्टिक्स में आपका स्वागत है" followed by text-to-speech menu options sounds better than either alone.
On Edesy, the Say node speaks text in Hindi (hi-IN) or English, and the Play node plays an
uploaded recording (mp3, wav, m4a or ogg, up to 5 MB). You can mix them freely in one flow.
Choosing a Hindi Voice
Put a Config node right after Start and set the voice and language for the whole call to Hindi. That way every Say node and every Menu prompt in the flow uses the same Hindi voice without you setting it on each one. You can pick a specific Hindi voice (several male and female options are available) or leave it blank to use the account default.
Practical advice on picking:
- Listen to the voice with your real script, not a sample sentence. Use the TTS preview in the builder. A voice that sounds fine on "नमस्ते" may stumble on your brand name.
- Match the voice to the call. A calm, slower voice suits reminders and healthcare. A brighter voice suits order confirmation and sales follow-ups.
- Keep one voice per flow. Switching voices between the greeting and the menu sounds like two different companies.
Writing Hindi Prompts That Sound Natural
Write in Devanagari, keep everyday English words
A Hindi voice reads Devanagari. If you type Romanised Hindi ("order confirm karne ke liye 1 dabaiye") it is read like English and sounds broken. Write it as people speak it, in Devanagari, keeping the English words everyone uses:
ऑर्डर कन्फ़र्म करने के लिए 1 दबाइए। कैंसल करने के लिए 2 दबाइए।
Not:
आदेश की पुष्टि करने हेतु एक दबाएँ।
The second is "correct" Hindi that nobody says on the phone. Callers understand the first faster. This is the same Hinglish-in-Devanagari style our COD confirmation templates use.
Spell out amounts and dates
This is the most common Hindi IVR bug. Digits inside a Devanagari sentence are not read reliably by every voice: an amount written as ₹3245 can come out as a different number. Our own testing on COD confirmation calls found that only fully spelled-out words were read back correctly every time.
So when you pass an amount into a Hindi prompt, pass the words, not the digits:
आपकी EMI {{var.amount_words}} रुपये है।
with amount_words set to "तीन हज़ार दो सौ पैंतालीस" by your system. Use the Indian grouping
(हज़ार, लाख, करोड़), not "thirty-two hundred". Do the same for dates ("पंद्रह अक्टूबर") and times
("सुबह ग्यारह बजे"). Single key numbers in menu prompts ("1 दबाइए") are fine.
Shorter sentences than English
Hindi sentences run longer than their English equivalents. Keep each prompt to one idea, and put the action before the key, the same rule as English menus:
बिल की जानकारी के लिए 1 दबाइए।
Three options is comfortable in Hindi; four is the limit.
Sample Hindi IVR Scripts
Inbound front desk (clinic)
Greeting (recorded): नमस्ते, सिटी केयर क्लिनिक में आपका स्वागत है।
Menu (text-to-speech): अपॉइंटमेंट बुक करने के लिए 1 दबाइए। रिपोर्ट की जानकारी के लिए 2 दबाइए। रिसेप्शन से बात करने के लिए 0 दबाइए।
No input: हमें आपका जवाब नहीं मिला। कृपया दोबारा कोशिश करें।
Key 1 and key 0 transfer to the reception number; key 2 plays a recorded message about report timings, or transfers to the lab desk.
Outbound reminder with callback
नमस्ते {{var.name}} जी, यह {{var.company}} की ओर से कॉल है। आपकी किस्त {{var.amount_words}} रुपये {{var.due_date_words}} को देय है। अगर आपने भुगतान कर दिया है तो 1 दबाइए। हमसे बात करने के लिए 2 दबाइए।
The full flow, including what to do with each key, is in EMI and payment reminder IVR calls.
Outbound order confirmation
नमस्ते {{var.customer_name}} जी, {{var.store_name}} से आपका ऑर्डर कैश ऑन डिलीवरी पर है। ऑर्डर कन्फ़र्म करने के लिए 1 दबाइए। कैंसल करने के लिए 2 दबाइए।
More Hindi and English confirmation scripts are in our COD confirmation call script guide.
Language choice at the start
For English, press 1. Hindi ke liye, do dabaiye.
Say the English option in English and the Hindi option in Hindi, so each caller hears their own language. This one prompt is the exception to the Devanagari rule: it is spoken before the caller has chosen, usually by the English voice, which reads the Romanised Hindi line acceptably. For the most natural result, record this single prompt with a bilingual speaker and play it as audio. The multi-language IVR guide explains where the language menu belongs and how many languages to offer.
Step-by-Step Setup on Edesy
- Get a number. Buy an Indian number in the IVR portal (KYC is needed) or use one you have assigned to IVR.
- Start from a template. "Language selection", "Department menu" or one of the confirmation templates gets the structure right; then change the words.
- Add a Config node after Start, set language to Hindi, pick the voice.
- Write the prompts in Say and Menu nodes in Devanagari. Upload any recorded greeting to a Play node.
- Wire every key, and the timeout. The builder will not publish a menu with an unconnected key.
- Preview, then place a real test call to your own mobile. Listen for misread words, brand names and numbers. Fix the text, not your expectations.
- Publish and assign the flow to the number. For outbound calls, trigger it from your system with the IVR outbound call API.
What a Hindi IVR Does Not Do Today
To set expectations clearly: menus on Edesy are keypad menus, so callers press keys rather than speak. There is no built-in time-of-day routing yet, so a menu behaves the same at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.; if you need a separate after-hours message, publish a different flow at closing time or send key 0 to a voicemail. For languages other than Hindi and English, use recorded prompts, covered in regional-language IVR with recorded prompts.
Set Up Your Hindi IVR
See how Hindi menus, voices and templates work on the Hindi IVR page, or check IVR pricing. If you want us to review your Hindi script before you go live, talk to us.