The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is seeking authorisation from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to regulate call management apps as part of its broader fight against spam and fraudulent calls. AS per TRAI, the 1600 number series is reserved for important service and transaction-related calls. These numbers can be used by regulated entities like SEBI, RBI, PFRDA, and IRDAI to contact existing customers. Furthermore, government departments can also use the mentioned series number in citizen communication.
The 140 number series is meant to promotional calls across all industries. Businesses using the numbers must register with the telecom service providers and follow TRAI’s commercial communication rules. According to the official statement:
TRAI has mandated the use of 1600xx series numbers for service and transaction calls by regulated entities of the BFSI sector, i.e. entities regulated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAl and PFRDA, to their existing customers and by government entities for government to citizen communication. A key objective of assigning designated series for these important communications is to make such calls trustworthy for the customers! citizen. Under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), any tagging, blocking or filtering of the calls originating from 1600 series numbers is not permitted.
TRAI has mandated the use of 140xx series numbers for making promotional calls by entities of any sector. Entities desirous of availing 140 series number for making promotional calls must register with Telecom Service Providers under the TCCCPR framework and comply with the provisions of the regulation. The customers have the right to allow or block promotional calls originating from 140 series numbers from entities of any or all sectors by registering their preference on the Do Not Disturb (DND) registry. A customer who has blocked any or all sectors from receiving promotional calls on the DND registry will not receive any calls from 140 series originating from entities of the blocked sectors. The customer can register his/her DND preference through multiple means, including through TRAI DND App. Any tagging or filtering of calls from 140 series numbers is not allowed except for blocking on the DND registry, as any tagging can mislead a customer who has otherwise allowed receipt of such calls from a sector on the DND registry.
