TRAI's new spam rules: what changes for businesses that call and SMS customers

01What did TRAI change in September 2026?

TRAI released the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026 on 18 September 2026. These are the rules for promotional calls and SMS in India. The main changes, as reported by Upstox, Moneylife and Medianama:

• Telcos must act on callers their AI systems flag as spam, even if no customer has complained.
• If five or more numbers linked to one sender are flagged within ten days, the telcos must act together.
• On a first violation, outgoing services on all the sender's telecom resources are barred for 15 days.
• Repeat violations can mean disconnection of all the sender's SIMs and lines for one year, and a blacklist.
• Customers can send BLOCK PROMO by SMS to 1909 to block all promotional calls and messages in one go.
• Caller ID apps must now pass users' spam reports to the telcos, as TechCrunch reported.

Reports say the changes come into force in phases. Moneylife puts it at 30 to 90 days from notification. That runs from mid-October into December, right across Diwali and the wedding season.

02Does this apply to a small shop or only to call centres?

The rules talk about the sender, not the size of the business. In our view, that is the part local owners will miss.

A call centre in Noida knows these rules. A furniture showroom in Kichha, where the owner's nephew calls a list all afternoon from his own SIM, usually does not. Yet from the telco's side both look the same. A number makes a lot of short calls to strangers, people reject them, and some mark them as spam in their caller ID app.

The businesses we would worry about most in this area:

• Builders and property dealers calling bought lists before a launch.
• Coaching centres and schools calling parents from purchased data in admission season.
• Showrooms, jewellers and car dealers calling for festival offers.
• Insurance, loan and finance agents who work from personal mobiles.
• Anyone using an SMS vendor whose sender header and templates you have never checked.

The cost of getting it wrong is not a fine you can pay and forget. It is your phones going quiet for 15 days, possibly in Dhanteras week.

03What does BLOCK PROMO mean for your Diwali SMS?

Until now, a customer who wanted fewer promotional messages had to pick categories. Now, according to Upstox, BLOCK PROMO blocks promotional messages for all categories of content, mode, time band and day type.

Moneylife notes that it does not block transaction or service messages, or government ones. So the OTP, the order confirmation and the appointment reminder still go through. The festival offer blast may not.

In our view, the people most likely to send BLOCK PROMO are exactly the ones annoyed by unsolicited offers. So an SMS blast will reach fewer of the people who might have bought. A smaller list of customers who actually asked to hear from you is worth more. They will not block you, because they chose you.

04What should a local business do this week?

None of this needs money. It needs a decision before the Diwali calling starts.

• Stop calling bought or forwarded number lists. They are the calls most likely to get rejected and reported.
• Call only people who enquired: a form, an ad lead, a WhatsApp message, a walk-in who left a number.
• Keep proof of each enquiry. Medianama reports that the rules recognise consent taken through any verifiable means.
• Ask your SMS vendor, in writing, whether your sender header and message templates are registered under your business name.
• Do not let staff make promotional calls from their personal SIMs. A barred number may be the one your customers use.
• Save calls for people who are close to buying. Use WhatsApp, Instagram and Google for everyone else.

If your festival plan depends on calling, start building enquiries now so the list is real. Our Diwali countdown has the dates: Diwali 2026 marketing plan for shops in Rudrapur and Haldwani: a week-by-week countdown.

05How do you get enquiries without cold calling?

Turn it around, so the customer starts the conversation. Then every call you make is a call back to someone who asked.

This is the kind of campaign we build at Facebook Ads Agency in Rudrapur | Meta Ads: a reel that explains the offer, an ad with a lead form or a WhatsApp button, and a list of people who raised their hand. For property, the same logic is on Real Estate Marketing Agency in Rudrapur for Builders.

06What should you not panic about?

In our reading, normal business calls are not the target. Calling back a customer who enquired, confirming an order, or reminding a patient of an appointment is not unsolicited promotion.

Calls from proper commercial number series are protected too. Moneylife reports that caller ID apps can no longer tag or block calls from numbers beginning with 1600 and 140. Those are the designated series for commercial and service calls.

And one rejected call will not cut your phone. Upstox describes action when several numbers linked to one sender are flagged within ten days. Medianama reports that the complaint route now needs three complaints in ten days plus an AI flag. It is a pattern of behaviour that gets caught, not a single unlucky call.

What is worth a few minutes is checking the habits of anyone who calls on your behalf. That includes an outside telecaller or a vendor you pay per lead.

07How does AMS handle leads for clients now?

On a first call with a builder, school or showroom, we ask where their leads come from and who calls them. If the answer is a bought list and a staff member's mobile, we move that budget to ads and content that bring enquiries in.

Leads from Meta forms and WhatsApp go to one business number. Calls go only to people who asked. Festival offers go to the WhatsApp list and the Instagram page, not to strangers' inboxes. It is slower for a week and steadier for the season.

Advance Media Solution plans and runs this for local businesses across Kumaon. If you want to swap cold calling for enquiries before Diwali, see Social Media Marketing Agency in Rudrapur or call +91 91059 43909.

08Questions people ask