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Inside India's race to outsmart spam calls using artificial intelligence

- By HIMANI KOTHARI

VOICE IS THE NEXT PERIPHERY for artificial intelligence (AI). After chatbots and image generators, startups are now teaching AI to talk—and more importantly, to answer. In India, where spam calls often outnumber genuine ones, some startups are betting that AI call assistants can make phone anxiety a thing of the past.

Truecaller introduced its AI-powered service Truecaller Assistant for paying users in 2023, while SpiderX AI began offering a similar service for enterprises late last year with Phone AI. Both remain paid solutions.

In October, a new contender entered the ring with a bold claim—it’s made in India, built for India and free. Hyderabad-based Equal launched Equal AI on October 2, offering early access to the first 10,000 Android users in Delhi-NCR. It plans to launch the app in other major cities of the country in phases.

India remains one of the worst-hit countries in the world when it comes to spam calls. A September 2024 LocalCircles survey found that 96 percent of Indians receive unsolicited calls daily, even after registering for Do Not Disturb (DND). According to data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Indians lost ₹7,000 crore to online financial frauds in the first five months of 2025.

To counter this, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has tightened norms. Since February, telemarketers are barred from using 10-digit numbers that resemble personal mobile lines, while telecom companies face fines of up to ₹10 lakh for failing to curb spam. Despite these measures, the menace continues.

For years, Truecaller has been the go-to caller ID app, flagging suspicious numbers. But as scam calls have grown more sophisticated, users have become even more anxious to pick up unknown numbers.

Now, a new generation of startups is tackling the problem with AI.