Truecaller had started flagging even government and bank calls as spam; will TRAI now take action?

The ‘140’ series is designated for telemarketing (promotional) calls, whereas the ‘1600’ series is for essential calls from services such as banks, insurance companies, hospitals, airlines, and courier services.

Until now, regulations regarding spam calls applied only to telecom companies; however, call management apps like Truecaller, Hiya, and Whoscall have now come under the government’s radar. The reason is that these apps have been flagging or blocking numbers from the ‘140’ and ‘1600’ series as spam.

What are the ‘140’ and ‘1600’ series?

TRAI created these two specific number series so that the general public could identify the nature of an incoming call. The ‘140’ series is for telemarketing (promotional) calls, while the ‘1600’ series is for essential calls from services like banks, insurance companies, hospitals, airlines, and courier services. The government believes that when apps like Truecaller label these authorized numbers as spam, critical calls—such as payment alerts, account updates, and delivery notifications—fail to reach the intended recipients.

TRAI seeks new powers

In reality, apps like Truecaller are not telecom companies; they are classified as ‘intermediaries’ under the IT Act, meaning TRAI cannot take direct action against them. Consequently, TRAI has sought the status of an ‘Authorized Agency’ under the IT Act. According to reports, MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) has given in-principle approval to this request. If implemented, this measure would enable TRAI to issue notices to these apps and take action against them for rule violations. The proposal even suggests that, in cases of repeated violations, such apps could lose the legal protection currently granted to them under Section 79 of the IT Act.

Truecaller responds with data.

Truecaller maintains that a call does not automatically become trustworthy simply because it originates from a ‘140’ or ‘1600’ series number. Following TRAI’s directive, the company stopped displaying the ‘Spam’ label on these numbers, but claims the result was counterproductive. According to the company, people do not answer more than 50 million calls daily from these two series. Company data reveals that over the past eight months, users ignored 81% of calls from the ‘140’ series and 79% from the ‘1600’ series; essentially, with the specific ‘Spam’ tag hidden, people are treating every unknown call as suspicious and rejecting it.

Industry Opposition

IAMAI, the body representing digital companies, has also opposed TRAI’s proposal. The organization argues that apps fall under the purview of the IT Act and MeitY, not telecom laws. Furthermore, compelling apps to share their spam-related data with telecom companies amounts to appropriating information that these companies have gathered through years of hard work.

What Next?

The battle now lies between ensuring the delivery of legitimate calls and curbing spam calls. The government wants to prevent calls from authorized numbers from being wrongly flagged as spam, whereas apps argue that this would increase the risk of users receiving unwanted calls. Following MeitY’s in-principle approval, the ball is now in the government’s court regarding when and under what conditions TRAI will be granted this new authority.