By Sagar Shankaran, Founder of CallSphere
Master TRAI compliance for cloud telephony in India, including DND registry rules, CLI regulations, and DPDPA requirements for scalable business calling operations.
Key takeaways
India represents one of the world's largest and most complex telecommunications markets, with over 1.2 billion mobile subscribers, approximately 30 million fixed-line connections, and a cloud telephony market growing at 18% CAGR. The country's business calling landscape is shaped by a unique combination of massive scale, stringent regulatory oversight, and rapid digital transformation driven by government initiatives like Digital India and the BharatNet broadband programme.
For enterprises operating in India — from IT/BPO companies in Bengaluru and Hyderabad to financial services firms in Mumbai and manufacturing companies in Gujarat — cloud telephony platforms have become essential for managing high-volume customer communications across a linguistically diverse, geographically vast market.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the primary regulator for telecommunications in India, established under the TRAI Act 1997. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under the Ministry of Communications, handles licensing and spectrum allocation. Key regulatory instruments affecting business calling platforms include:
Licensing Requirements
CLI and Calling Number Regulations
TRAI has implemented strict Calling Line Identification (CLI) regulations to combat spam and fraud:
India has one of the world's most comprehensive regulatory frameworks for controlling spam calls and messages. The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018, commonly known as the DND (Do Not Disturb) Regulations, establish a detailed framework:
DND Registry Categories
Consumers can register their numbers on the DND registry and select specific categories of communications they wish to block:
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Consumers can choose to block all categories (fully blocked) or select specific categories while remaining open to others (partially blocked).
Scrubbing Requirements
Consent Management
Penalties and Enforcement
flowchart TD
CENTER(("Strategy"))
CENTER --> N0["Banking/Insurance/Financial Products"]
CENTER --> N1["Real Estate"]
CENTER --> N2["Education"]
CENTER --> N3["Health"]
CENTER --> N4["Consumer Goods and Automobiles"]
CENTER --> N5["Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainmen…"]
style CENTER fill:#4f46e5,stroke:#4338ca,color:#fff
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDPA) is India's comprehensive data protection legislation, receiving presidential assent in August 2023. While the implementation rules are being phased in, businesses must prepare for compliance:
Key DPDPA Obligations for Calling Platforms
Given India's regulatory complexity, cloud telephony platforms serving the Indian market require specific architectural considerations:
DLT Integration
The platform must integrate with all major TSP DLT platforms:
| TSP | DLT Platform | Market Share |
|---|---|---|
| Jio | Vilpower (Jio DLT) | ~38% |
| Airtel | Airtel DLT Portal | ~32% |
| Vodafone Idea | Vi Business DLT | ~22% |
| BSNL | BSNL Smart DLT | ~8% |
All content templates, headers, and consent records must be registered on each DLT platform through which communications will be sent.
Multi-Language IVR
India has 22 official languages recognised by the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. At minimum, business IVR systems should support:
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Number Management
| Component | Typical Cost Range |
|---|---|
| Inbound calls (toll-free 1800) | INR 1.50 - 3.00 per minute |
| Outbound calls (local) | INR 0.30 - 0.80 per minute |
| Outbound calls (mobile) | INR 0.50 - 1.20 per minute |
| DLT registration (per header) | INR 0 - 5,000 one-time |
| SMS (promotional, post-DLT) | INR 0.15 - 0.25 per message |
| SMS (transactional) | INR 0.10 - 0.18 per message |
| Cloud PBX per seat | INR 500 - 2,000 per month |
| Call recording storage | INR 2 - 5 per GB per month |
For high-volume operations common in India's BPO and financial services sectors, per-minute rates are often negotiated to significantly lower levels based on committed volumes.
CallSphere's India deployment operates through partnerships with licensed UL and UL(VNO) holders, with full integration into the TRAI-mandated DLT ecosystem. The platform handles DLT template registration, DND scrubbing, and consent management as part of its core workflow — ensuring that businesses can focus on their calling operations without managing the regulatory complexity manually.
For enterprises operating pan-India contact centres, CallSphere provides multi-language IVR capability, local number provisioning across major cities, and real-time analytics dashboards that track DND compliance rates, scrubbing accuracy, and operational metrics at the agent and campaign level.
Phase 1: Regulatory Setup (Weeks 1-3)
Phase 2: Technical Deployment (Weeks 3-6)
Phase 3: Testing and Compliance Verification (Weeks 6-8)
Phase 4: Operations and Optimisation (Ongoing)
Internet telephony is legal in India under specific conditions. VoIP services that connect to the PSTN must operate through licensed telecom operators (UL or UL(VNO) holders). Pure internet-to-internet calls (e.g., app-to-app) are generally permitted. The DoT has progressively liberalised internet telephony regulations, but PSTN connectivity remains restricted to licensed operators. Cloud telephony platforms that handle PSTN connectivity through licensed partners are fully legal.
Businesses must register on the DLT platforms of each TSP through which they send communications. All content templates and sender headers must be pre-registered and approved. Before making promotional calls or sending SMS, the call/message list must be scrubbed against the DND registry through the DLT platform. Numbers registered on the DND for the relevant category are automatically excluded. This process is mandatory and automated through the DLT infrastructure — manual scrubbing is not permitted.
TRAI's regulations provide for a graduated penalty framework. First-time violations can result in warnings, while repeated violations lead to disconnection of the offending telecom resources (numbers, headers). Persistent violators can be blacklisted from commercial communications services for up to two years. TSPs are required to disconnect services within seven days of a confirmed violation. Additionally, DPDPA penalties of up to INR 250 crore may apply for data protection violations related to consent management.
The DoT significantly relaxed OSP regulations in November 2020. Businesses operating domestic call centres no longer need to register as Other Service Providers. However, businesses handling international calls on behalf of overseas clients (international BPO operations) still have specific compliance requirements, including restrictions on PSTN connectivity for international calls and data security obligations. The relaxed regime has significantly reduced the compliance burden for India's domestic cloud telephony market.
Under the DPDPA, call recording constitutes processing of personal data and requires a lawful basis — typically consent. Businesses must inform callers before recording begins, state the purpose of recording, provide the ability to opt out where feasible, implement appropriate security measures, and honour data principal rights (access, correction, erasure). Retention periods must be defined and enforced. While implementation rules are still being finalised, businesses should build DPDPA compliance into their calling platforms now to avoid costly retrofitting.
Written by
Sagar Shankaran· Founder, CallSphere
LinkedInSagar Shankaran is the founder of CallSphere, where he builds production AI voice and chat agents deployed across healthcare, hospitality, real estate, and home services. He writes about agentic AI, LLM engineering, and shipping voice agents that handle real calls in production.
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