The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated that entities regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) adopt the ‘1600’ series numbers by February 15, 2026, for making service and transactional calls to consumers.
The direction has been issued with the objective of enhancing consumer trust, curbing spam, and preventing fraudulent activities carried out through voice calls. The regulatory body said the deadline was decided in consultation with IRDAI.
Earlier, TRAI had issued similar directions mandating the adoption of the 1600 series numbers by entities regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). In response to TRAI’s regulatory initiative, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has assigned the ‘1600’ numbering series for allocation to entities in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector and government organisations, enabling consumers to clearly distinguish service and transactional calls from other commercial communications.
According to TRAI, the 1600 series will allow citizens to reliably identify legitimate calls originating from regulated financial entities. Following the assignment of the series and allocation of numbering resources to telecom service providers (TSPs), TRAI has been regularly engaging with TSPs and BFSI sector regulators to promote adoption of the 1600 series by BFSI entities.
As a result of these efforts, around 570 entities have already adopted the 1600 series, subscribing to more than 3,000 numbers. Based on its interactions with stakeholders, TRAI said the time is now ripe to mandate a time-bound completion of the exercise so that entities continuing to use standard 10-digit numbers for service and transactional calls also migrate to the 1600 series. This move aims to reduce the risk of fraudulent or misleading calls made under the guise of trusted financial institutions. “The structured and time-bound adoption of the 1600 series will significantly improve consumer safety and help curb impersonation-based financial frauds perpetrated through voice calls,” TRAI said.