No More Spam Loan And Credit Card Calls: TRAI, RBI Reveal Joint Initiative

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have initiated a pilot to address the issue of spam calls about loan and credit card offers. Such calls have become a frequent nuisance for the masses of mobile phone users and often result in fraud. 

TRAI and RBI have adopted a system of digital consent for banks and firms to seek customer approval before initiating promotional contact. The step is targeted at curbing spam calls, customer data protection, and ensuring commercial communication safety.

Banking Sector Set as a Starting Point

The Ministry of Communications said on June 16 that the financial sector will first implement this system. With such a large number of financial frauds reported in connection with spam calls, this sector has been given preference. The pilot project will be run in a regulatory sandbox, giving the authorities the space to experiment in an isolated environment before expanding it further.

The ministry observed that the project would facilitate testing in real-time how the system of digital consent operates. After success, it can be extended to other areas like insurance, e-commerce, and travel services.

TRAI Compels Telecom Firms to Take Part

On June 13, TRAI directed all telecommunication service providers along with nominated banks to participate in this pilot project. The aim is to develop a system where no business can send promotional communication unless they obtain and authenticate a customer's digital consent. This move follows general complaints by customers about receiving repeated offers for loans and credit cards despite having interacted with the concerned businesses even decades ago.

Most of such businesses profess to have consent, but it has not been possible to verify that in a trustworthy way. This system is designed to rectify that by having consent safely stored and checked prior to any contact.

How the Consent System Will Work

Under the new arrangement, banks and institutions are required to obtain customers' consent digitally. The consent will be retained in a secure platform controlled by telecom service providers. Prior to sending any promotional message or call, the platform will check if valid consent is present. Only then will the message be sent.

TRAI has emphasised that businesses making commercial communication have to register and adhere to the norms for the system to work efficiently.

Earlier Efforts to Limit Spam

TRAI has previously enabled users to report spam calls even if they have not enabled Do Not Disturb (DND). The regulator also cracked down on unregistered telemarketers and repeatedly used numbers that were disconnected for spam.

Employment of Verified Number Series

To curb fraud, RBI in January required transactional calls to be initiated only from numbers beginning with 1600xx, while promotional calls need to be from 140xx numbers. State Bank of India also confirmed that +91-1600 number calls are secure and used only for communication-related to services.