Truecaller vs. TRAI
Truecaller Challenges TRAI Anti-Spam Rules, Citing Damaged Trust in Business Calls
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Key Points
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Internal Truecaller data shows users ignored 81% of 1400-series calls and 79% of 1600-series calls over eight months, with about 74 million calls prevented from these numbers.
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To compensate for the restriction on labeling 1400/1600-number spam, Truecaller introduced a 'Frequently Blocked' badge to indicate numbers blocked multiple times by the community.
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Truecaller's criticism of TRAI and the idea of bringing caller ID apps under a separate regulatory framework was stated publicly on X by CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala, who called the move 'absolutely no sense.'
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India's Ministry of Communications reported that regulators disconnected more than 2.1 million fraudulent mobile numbers and took action against over 100,000 entities in the previous year.
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India is Truecaller's largest market with hundreds of millions of users, in the context of a telecom environment where estimates suggest 150-200 million spam calls occur daily in the country.
Truecaller is openly fighting India's telecom regulator TRAI over rules that bar the app from flagging spam on dedicated business number series. CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala called the move "absolutely no sense," warning it is triggering a consumer trust crisis in one of the world's busiest telecom markets, according to Storyboard18.
India sees an estimated 150 to 200 million spam calls every single day. Truecaller, which has hundreds of millions of users in the country, says TRAI's rules are making the problem worse — not better, SL Guardian reports.
How TRAI's Business Number Rules Backfired
In 2024, TRAI created two special number series — 1400 for service calls and 1600 for commercial calls — to separate legitimate business communications from spam. The goal was to make it easier for people to trust calls from companies. But Truecaller says the plan has badly misfired, according to Business Circle.
The rules stopped Truecaller from showing community-reported spam warnings on these number series. Users responded by simply ignoring the calls. Internal Truecaller data shows users ignored 81% of 1400-series calls and 79% of 1600-series calls over eight months. Around 74 million calls from these numbers were blocked entirely, ETV Bharat reported.
Scammers Exploit the Protected Number Series
Truecaller argues the whitelisting of 1400 and 1600 numbers has created a loophole. Bad actors can now use these "trusted" series to run scams, knowing Truecaller cannot label them as spam. Jhunjhunwala called it "a lose-lose situation for everyone," according to Storyboard18.
To work around the restriction, Truecaller introduced a "Frequently Blocked" badge. It marks numbers that many users have blocked, without directly calling them spam. The company says this is a workaround, not a real fix, TechBuzz reported.
TRAI Pushes to Regulate Caller ID Apps Directly
TRAI is now considering bringing caller ID apps like Truecaller under a separate regulatory framework. The regulator wants more oversight of how these apps label and display caller information. Jhunjhunwala pushed back hard on this idea publicly on X, saying it made "absolutely no sense," according to Business Circle.
TRAI's broader anti-fraud push has shown some results. India's Ministry of Communications reported that regulators disconnected more than 2.1 million fraudulent mobile numbers last year. Authorities also took action against over 100,000 entities, SL Guardian noted. But Truecaller says those gains mean little if the rules strip users of crowd-sourced spam warnings.
A High-Stakes Battle in Truecaller's Biggest Market
India is not just any market for Truecaller — it is the company's largest. Hundreds of millions of Indians rely on the app to screen unknown calls every day. Losing the ability to warn users about spam on business number series directly hits the core product, ETV Bharat reported.
The dispute puts two legitimate goals in conflict. TRAI wants to build trust in business calls and cut fraud. Truecaller wants to keep crowd-sourced spam detection intact. Right now, both sides say the current rules are failing consumers. Neither has offered a clear solution that satisfies both goals, according to TechBuzz.
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