TRAI Issues New Rule For Insurance Callers To Prevent Fraud — Check Details

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a new directive requiring all entities regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to adopt the ‘1600’ series numbering system for service and transactional calls made to consumers.

The directive, issued on Dec. 16, has set Feb. 15, 2026 as the deadline for compliance. According to TRAI, the move is aimed at boosting consumer trust, curbing spam and preventing fraudulent activities carried out through voice calls. The timeline has been finalised in consultation with IRDAI.

TRAI said that similar mandates have already been introduced for entities regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

The ‘1600’ numbering series has been assigned by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for use by Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) entities and government organisations. The objective is to distinguish legitimate service and transactional calls from other commercial communications, enabling citizens to identify calls originating from regulated financial institutions.

Following the allocation of numbering resources to telecom service providers, TRAI has engaged regularly with both service providers and BFSI regulators to encourage adoption of the 1600 series. As a result, around 570 entities have already moved to the new series, collectively subscribing to more than 3,000 numbers.

“Based on TRAI's interactions with stakeholders, it was considered that time is now ripe to mandate timebound completion of  the exercise so that entities continuing to use standard 10-digit numbers for service and transactional calls, also shift to 1600 series numbers to reduce the risk of fraudulent or misleading calls being made in the guise of trusted financial institutions,” TRAI said in a release.

The implementation timeline was imposed based on IRDAI's inputs during deliberations held under the Joint Committee of Regulators.

According to TRAI, the mandatory and phased adoption of the 1600 series will significantly improve consumer safety and help curb impersonation-based financial frauds carried out through voice calls.