Trai Moves to Rein in Spam Calls With Consent Project

Fewer pesky calls and messages may be on your way, with the telecom regulator flagging off a pilot project covering banks, which may be extended to more sectors later.

- Jatin Grover

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) three-month project will mandate your digital permission before companies can send promotional calls or texts. The initiative aims to give consumers greater control over marketing communications and drastically cut down on unwanted spam, a government official aware of the matter said.

This comes amid concerns over unwanted calls and messages, which consumers continue to face from sectors such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and real estate. The government is expected to soon notify the rules to implement the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, after which the companies will have to seek consent from users before using their personal data.

According to the telecom regulator, despite technical readiness by telecom operators, senders of promotional communication, also known as principal entities (PEs), including banks, have not onboarded the Consent Registration Function (CRF), which is leading to underutilization of infrastructure and proliferation of non-compliant commercial communications.