Phone calls from 1600 number series cannot be blocked, DND app can block calls from 140 series: TRAI

No app can block phone calls originating from 1600 number series that are meant for communications by regulated entities and the government to citizens, TRAI said on Friday (July 10, 2026), asserting its stance amid an ongoing tussle with caller identification app Truecaller over the labelling and identification of calls from the dedicated number series.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also clarified that promotional calls originating from 140 number series cannot be tagged or filtered by an app and can only be blocked by DND registry which is managed by the regulator.

“Under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), any tagging, blocking or filtering of the calls originating from 1600 series numbers is not permitted,” TRAI said.

The regulator said that it has mandated the use of 1600 series numbers for service and transaction calls by regulated entities of banking, financial services and insurance entities regulated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA to their existing customers and by government entities for government-to-citizen communication.

The key objective of assigning designated series for these important communications is to make such calls trustworthy for the citizens, the regulator said.

Telemarketing

On calls starting with 140 number series, TRAI said that it is meant for use by registered telemarketers.

“The customers have the right to allow or block promotional calls originating from 140 series numbers from entities of any or all sectors by registering their preference on the Do Not Disturb (DND) registry,” TRAI said.

The regulator said that a customer who has blocked any or all sectors from receiving promotional calls on the DND registry will not receive any calls from 140 series originating from entities of the blocked sectors.

“The customer can register his/her DND preference through multiple means including through TRAI DND app. Any tagging or filtering of calls from 140 series numbers is not allowed except for blocking on the DND registry, as any tagging can mislead a customer who has otherwise allowed receipt of such calls from a sector on the DND registry,” TRAI said.

Truecaller questions Centre’s move

Call management app Truecaller has questioned the regulator’s move claiming that spammers are abusing the direction and 5.25 lakh people are flagging calls originating from these numbers as spam.

“TRAI has issued a press release, reiterating that 1600 and 140 series calls cannot be marked as spam by anyone. This is exactly what is leading to the surge in spam from those series! The data proves without a doubt that spammers are abusing this directive. Why not let us mark numbers from these series as spam if 5.25 lakh people are telling us that it is spam, every single day?” Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala said.

The regulator has sought authorisation from the Ministry of Electronics and IT to act against apps that violate its norm meant to strengthen the fight against spam and fraud calls.

Mr. Jhunjhunwala on Wednesday contested TRAI’s approach as it claims that the 1600 and 140 series phone calls are being misused.

He said that the number of spam calls made through the 140/1600 number series skyrocketed with over 5.1 crore calls from both series going unanswered every single day.

Specifically with the 1600 series, reserved for service/transaction related calls, we have seen daily blocking actions triple (up by 208%) since October 2025. A total of 7.4 crore manual blocking actions have been taken against these series in the past 8 months,” Mr. Jhunjhunwala had said in a social media post.

He said that at present Truecaller users actively block 4 lakh calls from the 140 series and 1.25 lakh calls from the 1600 series every day.