Is AI Calling Legal in India?

TRAI published the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) in 2018. This is the core regulation that governs every commercial call made in India — whether it is a human sales rep or an AI voice agent.

TCCCPR 2018 covers three things: who can call, who you can call, and how you must call them. It is not specifically about AI — it is about commercial communications. AI calling falls squarely within its scope.

The regulation created the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) — what everyone calls the DND list. Any Indian phone subscriber can register on the NCPR to opt out of unsolicited commercial calls. Once registered, they cannot be called without prior consent, regardless of whether the caller is human or AI.

Importantly, TCCCPR 2018 also created a header-based registration system for businesses. Every legitimate commercial caller must register their business identity with their telecom provider and receive a registered sender header (essentially the business name or ID that appears on the receiving end of the call). Unregistered commercial calling is a violation from day one.

In February 2025, TRAI issued amendments to TCCCPR 2018 that directly address the explosion of AI-generated commercial calls. Three new requirements were added. Every Indian business making commercial calls needs to know these.

These amendments came into effect in February 2025. If you are running AI calling campaigns today without 160-series numbers and AI disclosure scripts, you are operating outside the updated TRAI framework.

Yes. Since the February 2025 amendment, all commercial outbound calls require a 160-series number. There are no exceptions for AI-generated calls, small businesses, or low-volume callers.

A 160-series number looks like: 1600XXXXXXX or 160XXXXXXXX. When your subscriber's phone rings and they see a 160-series number, they know it is a commercial call — this is deliberate. TRAI wants subscribers to be able to identify and filter commercial calls.

To get a 160-series number, you apply through your licensed telecom operator (Airtel Business, Jio Enterprise, BSNL, etc.). You will need:

Typical timeline: 7–14 business days once all documents are submitted. Some operators process faster if you are applying for a high-volume allocation.

If you use Vyora, this is handled for you through our registered calling infrastructure. Vyora's outbound calls already originate from properly registered numbers — you do not need to apply for your own 160-series number to start compliant calling.

DND scrubbing means removing every number registered on the National Customer Preference Register from your calling list before you launch a campaign. It is not optional. It is not something you do once at list import. You do it before every campaign, because the registry updates daily.

Here is what TCCCPR 2018 says happens if you skip it:

Service disconnection is the worst outcome — it means your entire commercial calling operation shuts down. For a business running outbound lead generation, that is existential.

The DND registry is available via the TRAI-licensed Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform. Every telecom operator in India is connected to this platform. Accessing and scrubbing against it requires being registered on the DLT platform as a commercial caller.

Vyora handles DND scrubbing automatically before every campaign. You upload your contact list. The platform scrubs it. Non-compliant numbers are removed before a single call goes out. For a cost comparison of running compliant AI calling vs a human team, see our AI vs human telecaller cost breakdown.

"TRAI compliance" is not a sticker you put on your campaign. It is a system — and maintaining it requires either building that system yourself or using a platform that has already built it.

Here is what doing it yourself looks like:

That is a significant infrastructure project — and it needs to be maintained every time TRAI updates its rules. For a real estate agency, an edtech startup, or a lending company, this is not your core business.

Here is what using Vyora looks like by contrast:

The compliance infrastructure is a solved problem when you use a platform built for the Indian market. You still need to capture consent at your end — that is your responsibility. But the telecom and calling layer is handled.