Indian calling rules
How TRAI's commercial-calling rules treat automated calls, the call types RowCall places, and the numbers it calls from.
In India, commercial calls are governed by TRAI's Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), as amended in 2025 and 2026. A call about a shopper's order is a commercial call, and a call placed by software with an artificial voice is an application-to-person (A2P) call. Every RowCall call is both, so the rules below apply to each one.
The call types
RowCall places only transactional and service calls about a shopper's own order. Every RowCall flow declares one of these types. The type decides whether consent is needed.
| Call type | What it is | Consent | Example flows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transactional | A call about a transaction the shopper started, placed within 30 minutes of it | Not needed, because the shopper started the transaction | Live checkout help right after a failed payment |
| Service | A call about the shopper's order or delivery, or one that helps complete a purchase still going on | TRAI needs explicit consent, valid for 7 days, for a purchase not yet complete, such as a checkout. RowCall asks for it on every service call | Order verification, delivery slots, failed delivery rescue, checkout recovery for shoppers who opted in |
Promotional calls (offers, discounts, new products) are not available on RowCall.
Numbers
RowCall calls from landline numbers. The numbers belong to RowCall and may be shared between businesses. RowCall declares them to the telecom operator for automated calls, as TRAI requires; an automated call from an undeclared number counts as spam. You don't buy or pick numbers yourself; RowCall assigns your org a number when it approves your business. See Phone numbers and caller ID.
TRAI has started moving service and transactional calls to the 1601 number series, sector by sector. Ecommerce isn't in it yet. If it is added, RowCall will tell you what changes.
Registration (DLT)
Commercial calls in India are registered on the telecom operators' distributed ledger (DLT) platforms.
| Who | Registers |
|---|---|
| You (the principal entity) | Your business, with PAN and address proof; content templates for your flows; consent templates, if your flows need consent; RowCall as your telemarketer. Renew each year |
| RowCall (the telemarketer) | Itself, and a declaration that its numbers place automated calls |
- Your business registers as a principal entity. You do this yourself on an operator's DLT portal (Jio, Airtel, Vi or BSNL). Enter the principal entity ID it gives you under DLT registration on Verify your business. RowCall approves your business only once the ID is there. You can add it while RowCall checks your other details.
- RowCall declares its numbers. Automated calls must come from numbers declared to the operator for them, and calls from undeclared numbers count as spam. RowCall places calls to shoppers only from declared numbers. If none of your org's numbers is declared yet, live calls wait until one is. Test calls to your own phone aren't held back.
Complete your registration before your first phone call. The Terms of service make it part of the agreement.
What counts as spam
A call is treated as unsolicited commercial communication when, for example:
- a call that needs consent has no valid consent
- it reaches someone who opted out
- it sells something on a call that isn't allowed to
- it is an automated call from a number not declared for automated calls
- it comes from a business not registered on DLT
Shoppers can complain to their telecom operator. If complaints about a sender pass TRAI's threshold, the operator can bar the sender's numbers. Because RowCall's numbers can be shared, one business's complaints can affect others, so RowCall suspends an org whose complaints put its numbers at risk. The operator asks for proof of consent and sets a deadline. See Consent records.
How RowCall applies the rules
You pick the call type when you build the flow
The ready-made ecommerce flows come with the right type set. Custom flows must choose one.
RowCall checks the run before dialling
A service run without a valid consent record, or a run for an opted-out contact, is refused with a clear reason.
RowCall picks the number
The call goes out from a number assigned to your org. You never choose a number by hand.
Everything is recorded
The call type, number, consent record and disclosure are stored with the call, ready if a complaint comes in.
Automatic checks before dialling are Preview and arrive with calling.
Next stepConsent recordsWhat to collect from the shopper, and how to send it.