TRAI telemarketing rules for sales calls: 140 series and DLT

TRAI telemarketing rules require anyone making promotional calls in India to register with an Indian telecom operator, call from a 140-series number recorded on the operators’ DLT platform, and respect each subscriber’s Do Not Disturb (DND) choices. As of October 2026, ordinary 10-digit numbers may not be used for telemarketing, and promotional calls fit inside 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM by default.

What the TCCCPR covers

The rules are the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR), issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 19 Jul 2018. They govern commercial SMS and voice calls carried on Indian operators’ networks, which the regulations call access providers.

Three definitions matter for sales teams:

• Promotional voice call: any voice commercial communication that contains promotional material or an advertisement. If promotional content is mixed into another type of commercial call, the whole call counts as promotional.
• Sender: the person or entity that owns the number used, makes or authorizes the call, or whose goods or services are promoted. A telemarketer is a person or entity that delivers, scrubs or aggregates commercial communication for senders.
• Subscriber: “a person or legal entity” who subscribes to a telecom service. Company numbers are covered, so there is no general B2B exemption to rely on.

TRAI amended the regulations on 12 Feb 2025 and again on 18 Sep 2026. Both are covered below.

Number series: 140 for promotion, 1600 for service

TRAI’s February 2025 amendment restricts senders from using normal 10-digit numbers for telemarketing, so every commercial call has to come from a designated series. TRAI restated how the series work in a clarification of 10 Jul 2026.

Call type	Number series	Who uses it	Can it be blocked or tagged?
Promotional calls	140xx	Registered senders in any sector	Subscribers can block sectors on the DND registry. Other tagging or filtering is not allowed.
Service and transactional calls	1600xx	Entities regulated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI or PFRDA calling existing customers, and government entities	Tagging, blocking or filtering is not permitted under the TCCCPR.
Telemarketing	Ordinary 10-digit numbers	Not allowed since February 2025	Not applicable

For a B2B sales team outside banking, insurance and securities, that means 140-series numbers for sales calls.

Registration and DLT: what a sender has to do

DLT stands for distributed ledger technology. Indian operators run DLT platforms that record registered senders and telemarketers, headers, content templates, consents and each subscriber’s preferences. Before a call or message is delivered, the operator checks the target numbers against those records, a step the regulations call scrubbing.

The main steps for a sender, from the consolidated regulations:

1. Register as a sender with an access provider. Registration includes physical verification of the entity, biometric authentication of its authorized person, and linking the entity to a unique mobile number.
2. Get 140-series numbers allotted for promotional calls.
3. Register content templates. A content template for promotion holds the fixed content of a promotional message or voice call.
4. Sign the operator’s agreement. Since 2025, operators must sign a binding agreement with each registered sender and telemarketer, and may ask for a security deposit that can be forfeited for violations.
5. Declare automated calls in advance. Senders must tell their operator before using an auto dialer or robocalls. The 2026 amendment replaces this with a declaration of A2P calls, covered below.
6. Self-certify your registration details every year, so the operator’s records stay current.

Consent, DND preferences and calling hours

Subscribers record preferences by calling or texting 1909, or through the TRAI DND app. They can block categories of content, modes, time bands and types of day.

• Preferences. Promotional calls are delivered only to subscribers who have not blocked that category, or who have given the sender consent.
• Explicit consent. Consent is verified directly with the person and recorded by a consent registrar. Consent requests go out from the 127xxx short code and are confirmed by OTP. With registered explicit consent, promotional calls are delivered whatever the person’s DND preferences say.
• Opt-outs. After a person revokes consent, the sender may ask for it again only after 90 days.
• Calling hours. The time bands from 9:00 PM to 10:00 AM are off by default for every subscriber, registered or not. The default window is therefore 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM, and India uses one time zone.

The 2026 amendment also says that nothing in the TCCCPR exempts a sender from the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. For the hours in other countries, see legal calling hours by country.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

February 2025. Besides the 10-digit ban, the amendment gave consumers 7 days instead of 3 to complain, and lowered the action threshold to 5 complaints against a sender in 10 days. On a first violation, outgoing services on all of a sender’s telecom resources are barred for 15 days. On a repeat, all of them are disconnected across operators for one year and the sender is blacklisted.

September 2026. The Third Amendment, announced in TRAI’s release of 18 Sep 2026, adds:

• A2P calls. A call started by an application or platform without direct human dialing, including autodialing and prerecorded or artificial voices. Senders must declare A2P use and the caller IDs they will use. Undeclared A2P calls count as unsolicited. The terminating operator may charge the originating operator up to ₹0.05 (5 paise) a minute for A2P calls; calls on designated commercial series are exempt.
• AI-based flagging. Operators flag caller IDs likely to be sending spam. When 5 or more of a sender’s numbers are flagged within 10 days, graded action follows. Action also starts after 3 complaints in 10 days if a sender’s number is flagged. Numbers in the 140xx, 1600xx and 1601xx series are not flagged as spam to recipients.
• Consent and inquiries. Legacy consents count only if they were obtained through verifiable means and registered on the operators’ platform. An inquiry made in writing or digitally allows contact for 7 days.

Most of the Third Amendment takes effect 30 days after publication in the Gazette of India, and some parts after 60 or 90 days. As of 15 Oct 2026, check with your operator which parts are already in force.

Calling India from outside India

Calls from abroad that show a +91 number are blocked as spoofed. The Department of Telecommunications’ International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System, launched on 22 Oct 2024, identifies and blocks incoming international calls that display Indian numbers. A sales call with a +91 caller ID has to start inside India, from a registered sender on 140-series numbers. If your reps call Indian numbers from another country, ask your counsel how the TCCCPR applies, and keep calls inside 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM IST. For how other countries treat local caller IDs, see international local phone numbers for business.

How DialSavvy handles this

DialSavvy does not offer +91 caller IDs. The country coverage page lists India as planned for single dialing only, from reps outside India with an international caller ID, between 10:00 AM and 9:00 PM IST. Live today, DialSavvy compliance checks calling hours in the contact’s time zone and your do-not-call list before every call, from versioned rule packs by country.

Before your team calls India, list which of your contacts sit in India, decide whether those calls run from inside or outside the country, and take that plan to your counsel and your Indian operator.