The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said that the incumbent telecom operators have begun rolling out a dedicated "1600" number series for banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) companies. The move aims to help consumers easily identify genuine transaction and service calls, thereby enhancing the credibility of voice communications in the sector.
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Introduction of the 1600 Series
"Currently, we are focusing on the implementation of the 1600 series. This series has been allotted for transaction and service calls for the banking, financial and insurance (BFSI) sector," TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti told ETTelecom.
Lahoti reportedly noted that the 1600 series initiative in the BFSI sector will "give a lot of credibility" to voice calls and consumers can identify it as a transactional service, and not meant for a promotional purpose.
Current Implementation Status
"The work is in progress, so the number series has been given to the service providers and now the principal entities are taking the numbers from them. We have also requested the respective sectoral regulators to advise the entities regulated by them for early adoption of this system," Lahoti was quoted as saying in the report.
According to the regulator, some of the BFSI players, such as the State Bank of India (SBI) Card, have already begun adopting the new numbering system. TRAI plans to eventually mandate the use of this series for all service and transactional calls from large commercial entities within the BFSI sector.
"So, we have started from the BFSI sector, it will take some time to complete it, then we will take up other sectors also," he added.
This initiative follows extensive consultations with stakeholders, including incumbent telecom providers and sectoral regulators. TRAI has also urged regulators to encourage early adoption of the system among entities they oversee.
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Role of the Joint Committee of Regulators
In 2022, TRAI established a Joint Committee of Regulators (JCoR) comprising representatives from the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Department of Telecommunications. The committee is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the 1600 series and preventing misuse under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation, 2018.
In April 2025, JCoR deliberated on the modalities for extending the 1600 series to transactional and service calls from government and financial sector entities, following the launch of the Digital Consent Acquisition platform.
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