Pesky calls situation shows minor improvement; 6 in 10 Indians surveyed still get 3 or more each day; Individuals selling financial services and real estate top offenders

February 19, 2024, New Delhi: The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) has constituted a committee comprising members of different regulatory authorities, telemarketing companies and cellular industry to draft the guidelines to address the issue of pesky calls.At a meeting convened by DoCA Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh on February 13, representatives from Department of Telecom, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Cellular Operators Association of India, BSNL, Vodafone, Airtel and Reliance were informed about various troubling trends.

The meeting draws upon the LocalCircles pesky calls study 2023 which found that most of the pesky calls are from the financial services sector, followed by real estate. Job offers​ or ways to make quick money are high on the list of such calls. Another LocalCircles report had also identified the evolving trend of some of the spam callers switching to internet calls, especially using WhatsApp to lure customers into similar financial services or real estate transactions. “It was observed that these calls not only violate the privacy of users but also the rights of the consumers,” Singh said.

This move by DoCA follows the Government’s earlier steps to protect the consumer through the new Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2023, which was passed by the Parliament in December, replacing the century-old telecom law. The new legislation has provision to reform the regulatory structure to make the sector more investor-friendly. The key provisions in the Bill aim to protect telecom users, by making impersonation and fraudulent SIM acquisition using someone else's identity proof for telecom services punishable by imprisonment for up to three years and a fine of up to INR 50 lakh. The law also includes comparable harsh provisions for phone number spoofing to combat fraud, as well as a "digital-by-design" online grievance redressal mechanism to address consumer complaints. It also aims to tighten the noose around pesky calls through a variety of measures, including monitoring SIM card misuse. Last year, the government had blocked 65 telecom setups that were enabling fraudulent calls with fake Indian numbers. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) also issued instructions to International Long Distance Operators (ILDOs) to reject incoming calls lacking proper Caller Line Identification (CLI) or carrying certain prefixes. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had also issued a warning to Principal Entities (PEs) like banks, other financial institutions, insurance companies, trading companies and businesses, etc., to get their content templates registered. They were warned that on failure to do so, their commercial SMSs will not be allowed to be sent to consumers. "PEs are required to get content templates registered with the Access Providers. Any commercial communication through SMS is subjected to scrubbing against the content template registered by PEs with Access Provider," the ministry of communications had stated in February 2023.

The TRAI directive had followed a LocalCircles meeting in January 2023 with the officials of Department of Telecommunications and the regulator to discuss a series of consumer issues ranging from 5G service experience to pesky calls/SMS. Earlier in 2022, TRAI had released a consultation paper on mandatory implementation of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) in Telecommunication Networks which is designed to display the name of the caller (even if the receiver has not saved the same on their device/SIM) on the receiver’s screen when the call connects. However, complaints from consumers have continued to rise and unsolicited communications is something people have been regularly discussing on LocalCircles platform. A survey done on the LocalCircles platform had revealed that 66% of mobile subscribers surveyed receive three or more pesky calls each day. In fact, the survey revealed that 92% of people registered on the Do Not Disturb (DND) list were getting unwanted / pesky calls.

Given all these developments and consumers continuing to report harassment by pesky callers regularly on LocalCircles, the platform conducted a fresh survey to find out whether the government and regulatory authorities’ measures so far have had the necessary impact. The survey received over 60,000 responses from citizens located in 378 districts of India. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 42% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

60% of respondents indicating that they receive 3 or more spam calls on an average every day

The survey first asked respondents, “On an average, how many unwanted, pesky, sales/ promotional or robo phone calls have you been receiving in the last 12 months on your mobile number every day?” This query received 12,196 responses with 60% of respondents indicating that they receive 3 or more spam calls on an average every day during the last 12 months. The data shows that while 30% of the respondents get 1-2 spam calls on an average every day, 36% of those surveyed indicated that they get 3-5 spam calls minimum almost daily, 21% of respondents indicated 6-10 spam calls, and 3% indicated over 10 unwanted calls. However, 4% of the respondents gave no clear response while 6% shared that they are fortunate not to “get any such phone calls”.

Percentage of mobile subscribers getting 3 or more spam calls on an average every day has dipped from 66% in February 2023, to 60% in February 2024

A comparative study of the data shows that from 66% of mobile subscribers surveyed confirming getting 3 or more spam calls on an average every day in February 2023, the percentage has dipped to 60% in the last 12 months. The dip, though marginal, is encouraging as it shows that proper implementation of TRAI directive can bring about further improvement in containing spam calls to mobile subscribers.

6% of the mobile subscribers surveyed now have indicated that they are getting no spam calls, while in February no respondent had indicated such relief

The improvement is more noticeable when one considers the fact that 6% of the mobile subscribers surveyed in February 2024 have indicated that they are getting no spam calls, while in February 2023 no respondent had indicated such relief. Further, to the question “on average, how many unwanted, pesky, sales/ promotional or robo phone calls do you receive on your mobile number every day?” There is no change in the percentage of those who shared that they receive 1-2 spam calls as both in February 2023 and February 2024 it remained at 30%. However, in the case of those who indicated that they get 3-5 calls on average every day the percentage has dipped from 45% in February 2023 to 36% in the new survey as in the case of those who claimed to get over 10 spam calls every day on average there has been a decline from 5% to 3% in 12 months. Unfortunately, in the case of those who get 6-10 spam calls on average every day it has risen from 14% in February 2023 to 21% in February 2024.

90% of respondents admitting that they get spam calls despite being registered on DND list

The next survey question asked mobile subscribers, “Have you been getting unwanted, pesky, sales/promotional or robo phone calls on your mobile number in the last 12 months despite being registered on the Do Not Disturb (DND) list?” This query received 11,769 responses with 90% of respondents admitting that they “still get them” while 5% indicated that they “don’t get them” and 5% of those surveyed gave no clear response. This clearly indicates that the DND list is still not working for the consumers.

A look at the response received to the same query in February 2024 and the last survey data shows that there has been a very marginal improvement in the last 12 months. From 92% of mobile subscribers getting unwanted calls in February 2023 despite being registered on DND list, the latest survey shows that 90% of such subscribers are continuing to receive pesky calls.

76% of respondents indicated that the highest number of pesky phone calls they have received have been from financial services and real estate sectors

The survey then asked respondents, “Under what category have you been getting the most number of unwanted, pesky, sales/promotional, robo phone calls on your mobile number in the last 12 months?” The query received almost 12,000 responses with 76% of respondents indicating that the highest number of pesky phone calls they have received have been from financial services and real estate sectors. The breakup of data showed 54% of respondents are receiving pesky calls from companies selling financial services; 22% from companies selling real estate; 7% of respondents indicated companies providing healthcare/ pathology services; 4% offering a job/ earnings opportunity; 2% providing services like RO repair, Spa, Beauty, etc.; 2% providing mobile number, better mobile talk/ data plans, etc.; and 7% of respondents indicated other categories.

Comparing the survey results in February 2023 and now provides interesting insights into changing trends. In some categories there has been an increase as in the case of “selling real estate” which has risen from 18% in February 2023 to 22% now. In the case of those providing healthcare/ pathology services, the respondents indicated it has risen from 2% to 7% and in “other categories” not listed, the rise has been from 4% to 7% in just 12 months. On the other hand, calls related to job/ earnings offering there has been a dip from 10% of unwanted calls to 4% and in the case of those selling financial services the calls have slipped from 60% of unwanted calls to 54% while there has been no change in calls related to those offering services like RO repair, spa or beauty treatment; providing mobile number, better mobile talk/ data plans, etc.; or those who indicated that they don’t get any spam calls.

48% of mobile subscribers surveyed indicated that they get majority of the pesky phone calls from different mobile numbers that seem to belong to individuals

Seeking to know the source of the calls, the survey asked respondents, “How have you been receiving the majority of these unwanted, pesky, sales/promotional or robo phone calls on your mobile in the last 12 months?” This query received 11,483 responses with 48% of mobile subscribers indicating that they get majority of the pesky phone calls from different mobile numbers that seem to belong to individuals while 36% indicated that they come from different mobile numbers that seem to belong to companies/ brands; 7% of respondents indicated they receive calls from a centralized company landline number and 2% of respondents indicated that the calls seem to be from a centralized company toll free number. In addition, 7% of respondents opted for “can’t say”.

Calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to companies/brands have risen from 29% in February 2023 to 36% in February 2024

Since February 2023, while pesky calls from a centralized company landline number have halved from 14% to 7%, the survey shows 2% of citizens are now getting calls from a centralized company toll free number. Similarly, while citizens receiving calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to individuals have dipped from 50% to 48%, the calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to companies/brands have risen from 29% in February 2023 to 36% in February 2024.

40% mobile subscribers have identified Bajaj Finance as the top offender followed by 27% pointing at HDFC group as the second biggest pesky caller

Since the highest pesky calls were reported from the financial services sector, the survey then asked mobile subscribers “Which insurance company/ bank has made the highest number of unsolicited calls to your number in the last 12 months?” This query received 12,229 responses from citizens registered on the LocalCircles platform with 40% of those surveyed pointing to Bajaj Finance, among the well-known names 15% indicated HDFC Life Insurance; 12% indicated HDFC Bank; 4% indicated Kotak Mahindra Bank; 2% indicated ICICI Bank; 2% IDFC First Bank; 2% IndusInd Bank and 23% other financial entities not listed above. In sum, 40% mobile subscribers have identified Bajaj Finance as the top offender followed by 27% pointing at HDFC group as the second biggest pesky caller.

In summary, while there appears to have been some impact of TRAI directive to banks, insurance companies and other commercial entities with 6% of respondents indicating that they have been receiving no spam calls, the impact is not sufficient to bring cheer as 60% of mobile subscribers are still getting 3 or more spam calls on an average every day. A significant improvement is that 6% of respondents claimed not to be getting any unwanted calls. Most unwanted calls are related to financial services and real estate - 54% of respondents are receiving pesky calls from companies selling financial services while 22% of respondents are getting calls from companies selling real estate. Comparing the survey results from February 2023 to those of February 2024 provides interesting insights into changing trends. In some categories there has been an increase as in the case of “selling real estate” which has risen from 18% in February 2023 to 22% now. On the other hand, calls related to job/ earnings offering have seen a dip from 10% of unwanted calls to 4% and in the case of those selling financial services the calls have slipped from 60% of unwanted calls to 54%.

Based on the source of calls, since February 2023, while pesky calls from a centralized company landline number have halved from 14% to 7%, the new survey shows 2% of citizens are now receiving calls from a centralized company toll free number. Similarly, while citizens receiving calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to individuals have dipped from 50% to 48%, the calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to companies/brands have risen from 29% in February 2023 to 36% now.

The survey throws up the fact that 40% mobile subscribers have identified Bajaj Finance as the top offender followed by 27% pointing at HDFC group as the second biggest pesky caller. The need of the hour is to enable a system where pesky callers are blacklisted at the identity/Aadhar level so they have the risk of not getting a new SIM. Also, brands on whose behalf the contracted callers are calling also need to be held accountable by the CCPA or Department of Consumer Affairs so brands institute the right consumer outreach practices both with employees as well as the third party contractors.

LocalCircles will be sharing the survey results with the TRAI, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Department of Consumer Affairs and request further action to protect consumers both from the nuisance of pesky calls and risk of financial frauds. Hopefully the provision for penal action in the new Telecommunications Bill 2023 will be implemented on defaulters.

Survey Demographics

The survey received over 60,000 responses from citizens located in 378 districts of India. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 42% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey