Lately, caller ID service provider Truecaller has been at odds with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) over the display of spam information for calls originating from the 140 and 1600 number series.
The dispute stems from TRAI's move in late 2025 to mandate the use of dedicated number series for different types of commercial calls. Under the new framework, 140-series numbers are meant for telemarketing and promotional calls, while 1600-series numbers are reserved for banks, financial institutions and other regulated entities to make service and transaction-related calls.
The objective was to help consumers identify the nature of incoming business calls more easily and curb spam.
What triggered the dispute?
According to Truecaller, while introducing the dedicated number series, TRAI also directed caller ID applications not to display community-reported spam labels for calls originating from the 140 and 1600 series.
The company says this prevents it from warning users about numbers that have been widely reported as spam or scam by its community, even if there are a large number of complaints against them.
Why is Truecaller objecting?
Truecaller argues that the restriction has had the opposite effect of what was intended.
In a post on X, Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala said that after the new rules came into force, spam and scam calls from the 140 and 1600 number series increased, while consumers became increasingly reluctant to answer calls from these numbers.
According to him, more than 51 million calls from the 140 and 1600 series go unanswered every day. Over the past eight months, users have ignored 81% of 140-series calls and 79% of 1600-series calls, reflecting declining trust in these dedicated number series.
He further claimed that blocking of 1600-series numbers has increased by 208% since October 2025. Users have manually blocked around 74 million calls from the two number series over the past eight months. On average, Truecaller users now block around 400,000 calls from the 140 series and 125,000 calls from the 1600 series every day.
Truecaller says the inability to display spam warnings is also affecting legitimate businesses, as consumers are increasingly ignoring genuine service and transaction-related calls.
To address the issue without violating TRAI's directions, the company has introduced a "Frequently Blocked" badge. Instead of marking a number as spam, the badge informs users that the number has been blocked by a large number of people.
Why does TRAI want to regulate caller ID apps?
According to Truecaller, recent media reports suggest that TRAI has approached the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), seeking powers to regulate caller ID applications and prevent them from displaying any information related to the 140 and 1600 number series.
Truecaller has criticised the move, arguing that community-generated information plays a crucial role in protecting users from spam and fraud. The company says that instead of restricting caller ID apps, the focus should be on taking action against businesses and entities that misuse the dedicated number series for unsolicited or fraudulent calls.
The company has also said it will share its data with MeitY, as it has previously done with TRAI, to support what it describes as a data-driven decision on the issue.