A business email ID is an address on your own domain, like priya@sharmatraders.in, in place of a Gmail or Yahoo address. To create one you need two things: a domain name, and an email service that hosts mailboxes on it. Setting it up takes six steps and usually less than an hour of your time. In India it costs from about ₹21 per user per month plus the domain, which is a few hundred rupees a year.
This guide walks through the steps in the order you will meet them. The examples use XgenPlus because that is the service we run and can describe exactly, but the steps are the same with any provider.
What you need before you start
- A domain name such as yourcompany.in or yourcompany.com. If you have a website, you already own one. If not, buy it from any registrar. A Hindi or other Indian-language domain such as आपकीकंपनी.भारत works too.
- The login for the place the domain was bought. You will add a few DNS records there. This is the step people get stuck on, usually because the web designer who registered the domain has the password.
- A list of the people and departments who need an address: names, and shared addresses such as sales@ or accounts@.
Step 1. Choose the email service
Before you compare prices, check five things, because cheap plans differ most on these:
- Does it work in Outlook and on the phone's own mail app? That needs IMAP, SMTP and ActiveSync. Some free and entry plans are webmail only.
- How big is each mailbox, and can different people have different sizes?
- What is the price at renewal, and for how many months do you have to pay in advance?
- Where are the mailboxes stored?
- Will you get a GST invoice in your company's name?
We keep a dated table of business email plans under ₹100 in India with the renewal price and the prepayment term beside the headline price.
Step 2. Sign up and enter your domain
On XgenPlus you sign up, confirm with a one-time code, and type the domain you want the addresses on. The sign-up checks that the domain is valid and not already in use on another account.
Step 3. Pick a plan and the number of users
Choose a mailbox size for each person. You do not have to give everyone the same plan: the director can have 30 GB while the shop floor has 2 GB, on the same domain. Pay online and the GST invoice is in the dashboard as soon as the payment clears. If you would rather test first, the trial is ₹2 per user for 30 days on your real domain.
Step 4. Add the DNS records
This is the only technical step. DNS records tell the rest of the internet where mail for your domain should go and which servers are allowed to send it. Your dashboard has a DNS & Verification tab that lists the exact records for your domain. For XgenPlus they are:
| Type | Host | Value | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| TXT | @ | the ownership code shown in your dashboard | Proves the domain is yours |
| MX | @ | mx1.xgenplus.com (priority 5) and mx2.xgenplus.com (priority 10) | Sends incoming mail to your new mailboxes |
| TXT | @ | v=spf1 mx ptr a:a.xgenplus.com ~all | SPF: lists the servers allowed to send for your domain |
| TXT | xgen._domainkey | the DKIM key shown in your dashboard | DKIM: signs your mail so it cannot be altered on the way |
| TXT | _dmarc | the DMARC record shown in your dashboard | DMARC: tells other mail servers what to do with mail that fails the two checks above |
| CNAME | autodiscover and autoconfig | mail.xgenplus.com | Lets Outlook and phones find the settings by themselves |
Log in where the domain was bought, find "DNS" or "Manage DNS", and add each record exactly as shown. Two things trip people up. If the domain already has MX records from an old service, remove them, because mail goes to whichever server the MX points at. And a domain can have only one SPF record, so if one exists, edit it and do not add a second.
DNS changes usually show up within minutes, and can take up to 48 hours. You do not have to wait on the page. The dashboard checks again when you ask, and mail starts arriving by itself once the MX records are live.
Step 5. Create the addresses
Use a pattern and stick to it. firstname@ suits a small firm; firstname.lastname@ saves you from the second Rahul. Then add the shared addresses customers will write to, such as sales@, accounts@ and hr@. On XgenPlus department addresses do not cost extra.
Step 6. Set it up on Outlook and phones, and bring the old mail
With the autodiscover record in place, Outlook and most phone mail apps find the server settings from the email address and password alone. There are also XgenPlus apps for web, Windows, iOS and Android.
If you are moving from Gmail, Zoho, Rediffmail or a hosting company's mailboxes, do not lose the old mail. It can be copied across over IMAP while the old service keeps working, and only then do you change the MX record. On XgenPlus plans from Premium upwards our team does this for you.
What it costs
| Company | What they buy | Per year, before GST |
|---|---|---|
| 2 partners | 2 XGEN Starter mailboxes, 2 GB each, at ₹21 | ₹504 |
| 6-person office | 6 XGEN Starter Pro mailboxes, 5 GB each, at ₹31 | ₹2,232 |
| 25-person firm | 25 XGEN Premium mailboxes, 10 GB each, at ₹50 | ₹15,000 |
Add 18% GST and the domain renewal. All plans and sizes are on the pricing page.
Five mistakes worth avoiding
- Letting one employee or an outside designer own the domain. The domain should be registered to the company, with the login held by an owner or director.
- Skipping SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Without them your invoices and quotations can land in spam at Gmail and Outlook.
- Buying on the headline price. A ₹29 plan that needs four years paid in advance is not a ₹29 decision.
- Sharing one mailbox between five people. Nobody knows who replied. Give each person an address and share a department address.
- Changing the MX record before the old mail is copied. Copy first, switch second.
Starting a company this month? The first-week email checklist for a startup goes deeper on what to set up in the first seven days. You can also have a mailbox name in Hindi or another Indian language; see how an email address in Hindi works.
