What is the emergency number in India?
Short answer
112, for police, fire, ambulance and disaster response anywhere in India. It works from any mobile including one with no balance or no SIM. For cyber financial fraud call 1930 within the first hour, for mental health call 14416, for women's helpline 181 and for children 1098.
Verified · 5 cited sources
112 is the single Emergency Response Support System number across every state and union territory, replacing the older separate numbers for police, fire and ambulance — though 100, 101 and 102 still route in most places.
It works from any mobile phone with signal, including phones with no balance and, in most cases, no SIM. Pressing the power button three times on most phones triggers a panic call, and the 112 India app provides location sharing and an SOS function.
1930 is the cyber financial fraud helpline, and calling it is time-critical. Money reported within the first hour can often be held before it moves through the chain of mule accounts — this matters more than anything else you do, including calling your bank.
14416 is Tele-MANAS, the national mental health support line, free and confidential in multiple languages. 181 is the women's helpline for violence, harassment and distress, and 1098 is Childline for children in need of care and protection.
108 is the ambulance service in most states, free at the point of use. 1073 covers road accidents and 1033 the national highways helpline.
1967 is the ration and public distribution helpline, 1915 the consumer helpline, and 1363 the tourist helpline in multiple languages.
For non-emergencies, several cities operate their own municipal helplines, and 112's operators can route non-urgent matters appropriately rather than dispatching.
- 112 — police, fire, ambulance, disaster; works without balance or SIM
- 1930 — cyber financial fraud; call within the first hour
- 14416 — Tele-MANAS mental health, free and confidential
- 181 women's helpline; 1098 Childline
- 108 ambulance in most states; 1033 national highways
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Sources & provenance
Facts verified
- 1.112 India OfficialMinistry of Home AffairsUsed for: Single emergency number, app and panic call functionality
- 2.National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal OfficialMinistry of Home AffairsUsed for: 1930 helpline and the financial fraud reporting system
- 3.Tele-MANAS OfficialMinistry of Health and Family WelfareUsed for: 14416 mental health support
- 4.Women and child helplines OfficialMinistry of Women and Child DevelopmentUsed for: 181 and 1098
- 5.National Consumer Helpline OfficialDepartment of Consumer AffairsUsed for: 1915 consumer helpline
All numbers and their functions come from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women and Child Development and Department of Consumer Affairs as cited. Ambulance and some other services are state-run and coverage varies; 112 routes appropriately everywhere. The emphasis on calling 1930 first is our practical conclusion about sequencing.
Facts on this page are taken from the sources listed above — Government of India ministries and departments, statutory authorities, regulators such as the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and TRAI, state governments and official statistical releases. Comparisons, judgments and "which option suits whom" conclusions are AI-assisted analysis written over those sources; they are marked in the text and listed as an AI-analysis entry in the sources, not attributed to any authority. Fees, slabs, limits and processing times change, often at the start of a financial year on 1 April; figures are current as of the review date shown and should be confirmed with the responsible department before you rely on them. A great deal of Indian administration is state administration — where a rule differs by state, this site says so.