The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in partnership with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and select banks, has launched a pilot project for digital consent management. This initiative aims to address the increasing number of spam complaints arising from business entities claiming to possess consumer consent for commercial communications. The pilot project, operating within a Regulatory Sandbox framework, focuses on the banking sector due to the sensitivity of banking transactions and the prevalence of financial fraud through spam calls. It will validate the operational, technical, and regulatory aspects of an enhanced Consent Registration Function (CRF), which requires entities to acquire consent digitally and register it in a secure registry maintained by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). This pilot is a step towards a national rollout of a digital consent ecosystem designed to improve verification of consents, reduce spam, and enhance consumer trust in legitimate commercial communications.
Key Entities Referenced
Ministry of Communications: The government ministry responsible for communications.
TRAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the regulatory body involved in the pilot project.
RBI: Reserve Bank of India, partnering with TRAI in the pilot project.
Banks: Participating financial institutions in the pilot project for digital consent management.
PIB Delhi: Press Information Bureau, Delhi - source of the news release.
Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations: Regulatory framework governing commercial communications, abbreviated as TCCCPR.
TCCCPR, 2018: Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, issued in 2018.
Do Not Disturb: DND, a preference setting for consumers to avoid unwanted commercial communications.
DND: Abbreviation for Do Not Disturb.
UTMs: Unregistered telemarketers.
Telecom Service Providers: TSPs, entities providing telecom services who will maintain the digital consent registry.
13 June, 2025: Date of the Direction issued to Telecom Service Providers.
Regulatory Sandbox: Framework under which the pilot project is running.
Consent Registration Function: CRF, enhanced system for consent registration.
CRF: Abbreviation for Consent Registration Function.
SamratAllen: Name of the person associated with the release.
Ministry of Communications
TRAI Launches Pilot Project for Digital Consent
Management in Partnership with RBI and Banks
Posted On: 16 JUN 2025 5:56PM by PIB Delhi
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has observed that a large number of spam complaints are
made by the customers against the business entities from whom the consumers have earlier purchased goods
or services. On investigation, such business entities often claim that they possess the consent of the consumer
for receiving commercial calls and messages.
Under the regulatory framework defined by the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference
Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, an entity can make commercial communications to a consumer irrespective of
his/her Do Not Disturb (DND) preferences provided the entity has taken explicit consent from the consumer.
However, in many cases, these consents were collected through offline or unverifiable means, making it
extremely difficult to ascertain their validity and genuineness. In several instances, consumers report that their
mobile numbers have been acquired by the entities for this purpose through misrepresentation, deception, or
unauthorized data-sharing practices.
TRAI has undertaken several innovative regulatory measures in recent years to curb such practices. These
include allowing consumers to register complaints against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs) even without
prior DND registration, and initiating large-scale disconnection of telecom resources being misused by the
entities for spamming activities. However, verification of consent for commercial communication citing
offline consent of consumer, remains a formidable challenge.
To address the issue, the regulations provide for acquiring consent digitally by the entities and registering
them in a secure and interoperable digital consent registry maintained by the Telecom Service Providers
(TSPs) for easy verification of consents while commercial communication is made to the consumers.
However, for successful operation of this consent registration framework, onboarding of entities sending
commercial communications is a necessary requirement.
Accordingly, to begin the national roll-out, TRAI has launched a Pilot Project in coordination with the
th
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) involving select banks and has issued a Direction on 13 June, 2025, to all the
Telecom Service Providers, mandating them to pilot this framework in collaboration with banks. Given the
sensitivity of banking transactions and cases of financial frauds through spam calls, the banking sector has
been prioritized for the first phase of implementation. This Pilot, running under a Regulatory Sandbox
framework, will validate the operational, technical, and regulatory aspects of the enhanced Consent
Registration Function (CRF) and lay the foundation for sector-wise scaling of the digital consent ecosystem.
TRAI remains committed to safeguarding consumer interest and enhancing trust in legitimate commercial
communications. The Authority will continue to work with sectoral regulators and stakeholders to ensure that
the ecosystem evolves towards more secure, transparent, and consumer-centric practices.
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Samrat/Allen
(Release ID: 2136728)