Regulators
TRAI seeks IT Act authority to curb false spam labelling by caller ID apps like Truecaller
Regulator wants IT Act authority as business calls face blocking and spam labels
NEW DELHI: Spam callers may soon find the tables turned. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought powers under the Information Technology Act, 2000 to take action against call management platforms such as Truecaller, Hiya and Whoscall for allegedly tagging or blocking legitimate commercial calls as spam.
The move aims to address complaints that calls originating from the 1400 and 1600 numbering series, which have been earmarked for commercial communications and service-related outreach, are being incorrectly labelled as spam or blocked altogether by caller identification apps.
At present, TRAI has no authority to act against such platforms because they operate as intermediaries under the IT Act rather than as licensed telecom operators. Unlike telecom service providers regulated by the Department of Telecommunications, these digital platforms are outside the telecom regulator’s direct jurisdiction.
The regulator believes the mislabelling of verified business calls is disrupting communication between companies and customers while also affecting government outreach programmes that rely on the designated numbering series.
Industry observers say the issue could have wider consequences. If businesses lose confidence in the dedicated commercial number series because their calls are frequently marked as spam, they may shift back to using regular mobile numbers. That could make it more difficult for consumers to distinguish legitimate business calls from fraudulent or unsolicited ones, potentially increasing confusion instead of reducing spam.
Responding to the development, a Truecaller spokesperson said: “Truecaller is fully compliant with TRAI’s mandate not to spam-tag or automatically block any designated series numbers. To clarify further, even if Truecaller detects a particular number from the designated series as spam, we do not display a spam label. While Truecaller receives lakhs of spam reports against some of these numbers, we refrain from tagging them as spam in compliance with the TRAI mandate.”
The proposal is understood to have received support within the government, with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology expected to back TRAI’s request for powers to oversee such digital platforms under the IT Act.
If approved, the move would significantly expand TRAI’s regulatory reach beyond telecom operators to include caller identification and call management applications, marking a new phase in India’s efforts to improve the reliability of business communications while strengthening consumer protection against spam.
