FormantAI
TRAI calling rules for businesses.
Promotional or service? Registered or not? What decides whether a business call is allowed.
The framework
Business calls and SMS in India are governed by TRAI's Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR), as amended. The regulations sort commercial communication by purpose, let customers block what they do not want, and put the enforcement on a blockchain-based registry called DLT.
Three kinds of commercial communication
| Type | What it is | Example | DND preference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotional | Marketing an offer or product | A new loan offer, a sale | Blocked for customers who opted out, unless they gave explicit consent |
| Service | About an existing relationship with the customer | EMI reminder, renewal due, order update | Allowed, subject to the customer's preferences and consent rules |
| Transactional | Triggered by a transaction the customer made | OTP, debit alert | Allowed |
What a business must do
- Register on DLT. The business (principal entity), its SMS headers and its message templates are registered on an operator's DLT platform. Unregistered messages are blocked.
- Use the right number series. Promotional voice calls come from the 140 series. Service and transactional calls are moving to the 160 series, starting with banks, financial institutions, insurers and government.
- Respect DND. Customers set preferences through their operator (for example by calling or texting 1909, or in the operator app). Promotional calls to opted-out customers need recorded consent.
- Don't use personal numbers for business calls. Unregistered telemarketing from 10-digit mobile numbers attracts penalties, up to disconnection.
What it means for AI calling
An AI voice agent is a calling system like any other: the same purpose rules, number series and DND checks apply. Calls about an existing loan, policy or order are service calls; offers are promotional. FormantAI is built for service calls to existing customers and callbacks to leads who asked to be contacted, checks preferences and permitted hours before dialling, and logs every call. Collection calls also follow RBI recovery agent guidelines.
This guide summarises public regulation for practical use and is not legal advice. Check the latest circulars and your own compliance team before relying on it.