New Delhi, November 19 (IANS). The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday made it mandatory for the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector to adopt ‘1600’ numbering series to clearly differentiate their service and transaction calls from other commercial communications.
Its objective is to prevent fraud through spam calls and voice calls, so that financial fraud can be stopped on a large scale in the country and the financial environment can be made more secure for the users.
The official statement said that under the initiative of TRAI, the 1600 number series has been allotted by the Department of Telecommunications to the BFSI sector. With this, people will get accurate and reliable calls from financial institutions.
The guidelines said it is mandatory for all mutual funds and asset management companies (AMCs) to adopt the 1600 numbering series by February 15, 2026.
At the same time, Qualified Stockbrokers (QSB) will have to adopt the 1600 series by March 15, 2026.
The instructions said that for the time being, other SEBI-registered intermediaries can voluntarily migrate to the 1600 series after verification of their registration details.
Commercial banks (including public sector banks, private sector banks and foreign banks) will have to adopt the 1600 series by January 1, 2026.
The instructions said that large NBFCs, payments banks and small finance banks with asset value of more than Rs 5,000 crore will have to join it by February 1, 2026, while the remaining NBFCs, co-operative banks, regional rural banks and small institutions will have to join it by March 1, 2026.
Central record keeping agencies and pension fund managers will have to join it by February 15, 2026.
The date of adoption of 1600 numbering for the insurance sector will be notified soon as discussions are ongoing with IRDAI, the official statement said.
–IANS
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