The Centre has constituted a Committee to draft guidelines to address the issue of pesky, promotional or unsolicited commercial calls received by consumers. The Department of Consumer Affairs has constituted a Committee comprising members from the cellular industry, and regulatory bodies to draft the guidelines.
The Department convened a meeting under its Secretary, Rohit Kumar Singh yesterday to discuss the issues related to unsolicited commercial calls. In the meeting, it was observed that these calls not only violate the privacy of users but also the rights of the consumers. Most of such calls are from the financial services sector followed by real estate. It was also pointed out that spam callers are now switching to internet calls, especially using WhatsApp to lure customers into Ponzi schemes, and crypto investments and offer job opportunities.
Efforts have already been made by the Department of Telecommunication and Telecomm Regulatory Authority to address the issue related to spam messages and pesky calls from registered telemarketers. The telemarketers have been advised to get their business entity, sender IDs and SMS templates on DLT platforms. DLT platforms are operator-run portals such as Airtel, Vodafone, Jio, and BSNL where businesses need to register by giving their business details.