MeitY Steps Up Efforts To Tackle Spam Calls From OTT Platform

SUMMARY

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will lead the way to engage with stakeholders to curb spam and scam calls from over-the-top and rich communication services platforms

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti highlighted the “need for a collaborative approach to combat spam messages and calls creating inconvenience and defrauding the citizens”

As per government data, Indians lost INR 1,935.51 Cr to digital arrest scams in 2024

Amid rising digital fraud, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will lead the way to engage with stakeholders to curb spam and scam calls from over-the-top (OTT) and rich communication services (RCS) platforms.

In a Joint Committee of Regulators’ (JCOR) meeting yesterday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti highlighted the “need for a collaborative approach to combat spam messages and calls creating inconvenience and defrauding the citizens”.

JCOR is a TRAI initiative, including representatives from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA).

The meeting also highlighted the need for allocating 1,600 series numbers to the entities belonging to the government and financial sector for making transactional and service voice calls

Additionally the committee is also considering onboarding senders of commercial communication on the Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) platform.

As per government data, Indians lost INR 1,935.51 Cr to digital arrest scams in 2024. Around 1.23 Lakh complaints related to such frauds were lodged on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Furthermore, 17,718 incidents of digital arrest scams were reported in the first two months of 2025 itself.

The development comes months after TRAI called for structured regulation of OTT messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal among others to handle security concerns.

The authority recently amended its regulations to tighten consumer protection against spam calls and messages. However, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea raised concerns over the effectiveness of these measures.

The new rules propose strict penalties against telecom operators over non-compliance.

Last month, TRAI relaxed its deadlines for telecom operators to implement the latest anti-spam measures within 30-60 days from February 12.