Fincl cos must shift to '1600' number series for calls by Mar 15, says TRAI
This story was originally published at 15:48 IST on 19 November 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Wednesday mandated Mar. 15 as the last date by which adoption of the '1600' numbering series should be completed by entities regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. This is part of the telecom regulator's initiative of enhancing consumer trust, curbing spam, and preventing fraudulent activities perpetrated through voice calls.
The '1600' numbering series was assigned by the Department of Telecommunications for allocation to entities in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector, and government organisations to clearly distinguish their service and transactional calls from other commercial communications. The series will enable citizens to reliably identify legitimate calls originating from regulated financial institutions.
As per the direction issued Wednesday, all commercial Banks have to shift to '1600' series by Jan. 1, large non-banking financial companies, payments banks, and small finance banks should shift by Feb. 1, all mutual funds and asset management companies and central record-keeping agencies and pension fund managers must shift by Feb. 15, remaining NBFCs, co-operative banks, regional rural banks, and smaller entities should shift by Mar. 1, and all qualified stockbrokers must shift by Mar. 15.
"The matter of mandating last date for adoption of 1600 series by the entities in the insurance sector is under discussion with IRDAl, and will be notified subsequently," TRAI said. End
Reported by Priyasmita Dutta
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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