Regulators
India’s spam cop tightens the screws on Truecaller, telcos and phone makers
TRAI’s sweeping new anti-spam rules rope in app developers and handset giants, slap fresh penalties on errant operators and give spammers five days to plead their case before the axe falls
NEW DELHI: India’s telecom regulator has drawn up its most muscular assault yet on the country’s spam epidemic, dragging call-management apps, smartphone makers and telecom operators into a tightened web of obligations that could redraw how the country’s 1.4 billion mobile users are pestered or protected.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on March 13th released draft amendments to its Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018, inviting stakeholder comments by April 12th and counter-comments by April 27th. The scale of what is proposed is striking.
Apps and handsets in the crosshairs
For the first time, TRAI is explicitly targeting third-party spam-filtering apps such as Truecaller, phone-dialler applications and the built-in spam-blocking features baked into handsets by Google, Samsung and others. Under the proposals, spam reports submitted through these apps or directly to phone makers must be routed to telecom operators’ distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms so they can be treated as formal complaints and trigger action against spammers.
The numbers make clear why the regulator is moving: in 2025 alone, Truecaller identified over 4,168 crore spam calls and 12,903 crore spam messages in India, with the community blocking 1,189 crore spam calls for Indians.
Apps that drag their feet face serious consequences. They could receive regulatory warnings, be declared non-compliant or, most damagingly, lose their intermediary liability protections under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
There is also a pointed restriction: apps must not tag, block or filter calls originating from the 140 and 1600 number series, which are reserved for registered telemarketers, service calls and official communications.
Operators bear the heaviest load
Telecom operators face expanded duties to detect, investigate and act against spam. AI-based systems must be deployed to identify suspected spam activity and verify the identity and usage of telecom resources by anyone flagged by such systems. If suspicious activity recurs, operators may need to conduct physical verification and suspend or disconnect the relevant telecom resources.
TRAI has also proposed additional charges to deter operators from turning a blind eye to bulk spam. A maximum termination charge of 5 paise per minute will apply to robocalls originating from numbers outside the 1400 or 1600 series, payable by the operator on whose network the call originates to the receiving carrier.
Operators must additionally carry out deeper validation of message templates before accepting commercial traffic from senders, and must designate a senior management employee as appellate authority to handle consumer complaints.
Timelines tightened, loopholes closed
The new rules extend the window for operators to examine call detail records when verifying a spam complaint, from one business day to two. The time limit to check for other complaints against the same sender has been stretched from two business hours to a full business day.
Networks will be required to share intelligence on AI-flagged spam numbers with each other within two hours. Once an investigation is initiated, the sender gets five business days to make their case before telecom resources are suspended or disconnected.
Consumer rights get attention too. A 15-day window is introduced for users to appeal an unsatisfactorily resolved complaint; the operator’s designated appellate authority must then resolve it within a further 15 days.
Businesses must come clean
For businesses and telemarketers, compliance tightens significantly. They must pre-declare whether they use automated application-to-person messaging, and failing to do so exposes them to operator action. Registered details, headers and templates must be verified annually to avoid automatic suspension.
If credentials are misused, businesses must act fast: reset credentials within 24 hours and report to law enforcement within two days. TRAI has also closed the old “inquiry loophole” that had allowed companies to send promotional messages under the guise of responding to a customer query. Explicit consent is now mandatory.
Penalties for telemarketers are blunt: first-time offenders lose access to their numbers for 15 days; repeat offenders face a year-long disconnection, blacklisting, device blocking, and must pay at least half the total restoration cost to have numbers reinstated.
The bottom line
India has long had the infrastructure to fight spam. What it has lacked is the reach, stopping at the telecom operator’s gate while millions of complaints piled up in apps and handsets, never feeding back into any formal enforcement system. TRAI’s draft amendments seek to fix that plumbing. If they survive the stakeholder gauntlet intact, Truecaller and its peers will no longer be mere spam detectors. They will be compelled participants in stamping it out.
Regulators
India Post launches ‘24 Speed Post’ for next day delivery in six cities
New service promises faster parcels with tracking, OTP delivery
NEW DELHI: India Post is set to introduce a faster mail service with the launch of 24 Speed Post, promising next day guaranteed delivery for urgent consignments in six major cities.
The service will be launched on 17 March by Jyotiraditya Scindia, union minister of communications, along with Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, minister of state for communications, at an event in New Delhi.
In its first phase, the new service will operate across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, covering some of the country’s busiest commercial and logistics corridors.
The 24 Speed Post is designed for time sensitive shipments and offers assured next day delivery. It will be supported by dedicated processing windows and priority air transmission to ensure faster movement of parcels between cities.
Alongside this service, India Post will also offer 24 and 48 Speed Post options that guarantee delivery within one or two days respectively, giving businesses and individual users more flexibility depending on urgency.
The upgraded service comes with a host of technology driven features including OTP based secure delivery, end to end tracking with SMS alerts and a money back guarantee in case of delays.
Business customers will also have access to additional facilities such as buy now pay later billing, free pickup for bulk shipments, API integration and centralised billing systems.
With the launch, India Post aims to strengthen its premium express delivery offerings and compete more effectively in the fast growing logistics and quick delivery market.
