TRAI Launches Pilot Project with RBI & Banks to Curb Spam Calls, Enhance Digital Consent System
New Delhi : In a significant move to combat the growing menace of spam calls and messages, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has launched a pioneering pilot project in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and select banks. The initiative, announced by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on June 16, aims to implement a robust digital consent management framework under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018.
The pilot project is being launched under TRAI’s Regulatory Sandbox framework and will initially focus on the banking sector, where the impact of fraudulent communications is most severe due to the sensitivity of financial data.
TRAI has observed a rise in consumer complaints about unsolicited commercial communication, with businesses often citing prior consent obtained through questionable offline methods. To tackle this, the regulator is mandating the use of a Consent Registration Function (CRF) a secure, digitally verifiable system where consumer consent will be collected and stored in an interoperable registry maintained by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).
On June 13, TRAI issued directives to all TSPs to work with banks and initiate testing of the CRF system. This pilot will assess technical feasibility, regulatory compliance, and operational integrity before a nationwide rollout across other sectors.
This initiative builds on TRAI’s earlier steps to curb spam, such as allowing users to report spam from unregistered telemarketers without enrolling in the DND list, and disconnection of telecom resources misused for spamming. The new digital consent system is expected to significantly increase transparency and restore consumer trust by ensuring that only authenticated, consent-based communications reach users.
