Archive · 18 Sep 2026
TRAI Tightens Spam Rules, Requires Pre-Declaration for Robocalls
India’s telecom regulator has introduced stricter rules to reduce unwanted promotional calls.
Businesses can use a customer’s product inquiry for promotional messages for only seven days.
Robocalls with recorded messages must announce themselves through a pre-declaration.
Calls without that declaration can be classified as spam.
A charge of ₹0.05 will be imposed on certain automated calls.
A new 1601 phone-number series will help people recognize genuine service and transaction calls.
The first users will include electricity, water, gas and LPG service providers.
The rules are intended to reduce spam, impersonation and fraud.
TRAI will allow promotional communication based on a consumer inquiry for only seven days.
Automated calls using pre-recorded messages must carry a required pre-declaration or be treated as spam.
A termination charge of ₹0.05 per call will apply to unsolicited automated commercial calls.
Telecom operators are onboarding selected non-financial sectors to the 1601-series numbering framework.
Utilities, including electricity, water, city gas and LPG providers, are included in the first implementation phase.
- Who
- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), telecom operators and commercial calling entities.
- What
- TRAI introduced tighter spam rules, including a seven-day inquiry limit, mandatory robocall pre-declarations and a ₹0.05 termination charge per automated call.
- When
- The measures were newly introduced; the direction on onboarding entities to the 1601 series was issued in the previous month.
- Where
- India, with the report datelined New Delhi.
- Why
- To limit unsolicited promotional communication and help consumers identify genuine service calls while reducing impersonation and fraud.
- Inquiry communication window
- Commercial communication based on a consumer inquiry is permitted for seven days from the inquiry date.
- Robocall requirement
- Automated calls using pre-recorded voice messages must carry a pre-declaration.
- Non-compliance
- Automated calls without the required declaration will be treated as spam.
- Termination charge
- ₹0.05 per automated call.
- New numbering framework
- The 1601 series is being extended to selected non-financial sectors for transactional and service voice calls.
- First implementation phase
- Utilities such as electricity distributors, water utilities, city gas companies and LPG distributors.
- Existing framework
- The 1600 series is currently used by government organisations, while the 1600-series framework has also been widely adopted by BFSI entities.