India’s TRAI Seeks IT Act Powers to Tackle Call Blocking Apps

India's telecom regulator, TRAI, wants IT Act powers to act against apps like Truecaller that block legitimate commercial calls (1400/1600) as spam. This hinders businesses and government initiatives. The IT ministry reportedly agrees.

Why Call Blocking is a Problem

New Delhi: The telecom regulatory authority has looked for powers under the Infotech (IT) Act to act against call administration apps and digital systems, such as Truecaller, Hiya and Whoscall, for identifying and blocking calls stemming from 1400 and 1600 as spam regardless of the special numbering collection being assigned for commercial interactions, stated individuals with understanding of the growth.

TRAI’s Proposed Solution

Authorities claimed such undesirable tagging or blocking hampers reputable business communications and also federal government initiatives. “The most awful part is that due to wrongful tagging, enterprises may have a tendency to return to typical 10-digit numbers, thereby enhancing spam and customer question,” stated a 2nd official, that likewise talked on condition of privacy.

Truecaller’s Response

Find out more: India’s cordless subscriber base expands to virtually 1300 million in May 2026: TRAI The regulator intends to be marked as an “authorised firm” under the Act, which will certainly permit it to officially notify the platforms pertaining to the violations and seek compliance. Authorities claimed the electronics and IT ministry is believed to have actually consented to the need and now the DoT will certainly launch the following course of action.

Truecaller claimed in feedback to ET’s inquiries that it stays compliant with Trai’s mandate of not spam tagging or car obstructing any type of assigned collection numbers. “To clear up better, also if Truecaller has actually detected a certain number from the designated collection as spam, we will not mark it as spam. Keep in mind that Truecaller receives lakhs of spam records versus some numbers, however in compliance with the Trai mandate, does disappoint them as spam,” claimed a firm speaker.

Regulatory Challenges

“The purpose is not to manage the applications, but in the IT Act there is an arrangement that if the regulation is gone against by an application, the ministry or administrative authority worried can start activity against them,” stated an authorities, that did not want to be identified.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) can not take action against such platforms at present because, as middlemans, they drop under the province of IT Act. The platforms are not permit owners under the Division of Telecommunications (DoT), unlike telecommunications drivers, which need to mandatorily abide by directions released by the regulatory authority.

Telecommunications regulatory authority Trai is seeking powers under the IT Act to act against call management applications like Truecaller. These systems are apparently tagging and obstructing genuine industrial interaction numbers (1400 and 1600) as spam, hindering federal government campaigns and reputable services. Trai intends to be designated an ‘authorised company’ to apply conformity, with the IT ministry supposedly agreeing to the need.