- India allocates 160 phone series for financial institutions to combat fraud.
- TRAI collaborates with RBI, SEBI, and IRDAI to implement this initiative.
- Migration of 140 phone series to DLT platform aims to reduce spam calls.
In a significant move to combat financial fraud, India has allocated 160 dedicated phone series exclusively for transactional and service-related calls from financial institutions. This initiative aims to help citizens easily recognize legitimate calls from banks, insurance providers, and other financial entities, thereby protecting them from scams.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is leading this effort in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). By introducing these dedicated phone series, the authorities hope to clearly distinguish genuine calls from those made by fraudsters.
Additionally, the Ministry of Communications has announced the migration of the existing 140 phone series used for promotional calls to a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. This change, along with stricter digital consent protocols, is expected to significantly reduce the number of spam calls from 10-digit numbers.
During a recent meeting, regulators, financial institutions, and telecom service providers emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts to curb spam calls and protect consumers from financial fraud.
