SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Institutions: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India | Ministry of Communications
TRAI has issued a direction dated 19 November 2025 under Section 13 read with Section 11(1)(b) of the TRAI Act, 1997, mandating adoption of a dedicated “1600-series” numbering system for voice calls by entities regulated by RBI, SEBI, and PFRDA.
This measure addresses poor adoption of earlier advisories and rising misuse of regular mobile numbers for fraudulent financial calls.
Purpose of the 1600-Series
The 1600 numbering block is exclusively reserved for:
Government entities (Central/State)
Banks and NBFCs regulated by RBI
Securities market intermediaries regulated by SEBI
Pension-sector intermediaries regulated by PFRDA
This exclusive series helps consumers instantly distinguish genuine service/transaction calls from fraudulent or promotional calls, improving traceability, auditability and fraud-prevention.
Phased Implementation Timeline
TRAI has laid out a phase-wise rollout (Annexure-I):
Commercial banks: from January 2026
NBFCs, mutual funds, brokers: February–March 2026
Pension intermediaries: March 2026
Adoption becomes mandatory on each entity’s specified date.
Compliance Conditions for BFSI Entities
After the deadline:
Only 1600-series numbers may be used for service or transactional voice calls.
Promotional calls from other numbers will be treated as unregistered telemarketing and penalised.
Even with customer consent, entities cannot use non-1600 numbers for service/transaction calls.
Fraudsters cannot mimic BFSI caller IDs, closing a major vector of impersonation scams.
Obligations for Access Providers
Telecom operators must:
Ensure migration to the 1600-series
Block non-compliant BFSI calls
Submit fortnightly compliance reports to TRAI
This creates a clear oversight and enforcement chain spanning BFSI entities and telecom networks.
The directive strengthens India’s defence against call-fraud, phishing, and unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) at a systemic level. A dedicated numbering system enhances the credibility of voice communication in critical financial services, reinforcing trust in India’s wider digital public infrastructure—UPI, Aadhaar-linked services, online banking and fintech ecosystems. It also signals a shift toward design-level regulation, where architecture (numbering systems) becomes a tool for governance and fraud prevention.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How will banks, NBFCs, mutual funds and pension intermediaries adapt their customer-communication systems in time for the mandatory 1600-series deadlines, and how will telecom operators and regulators monitor compliance during the transition?
Follow the full news here: TRAI issues Direction mandating phase-wise adoption of 1600-series