TRAI Mandates ‘1600’ Numbers for Insurance Calls
“The series will enable people to reliably identify legitimate calls originating from such regulated entities”: The telecom watchdog
NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated that entities regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) should adopt, by February 15, 2026, the ‘1600’ series numbers for making service and transactional calls to consumers.
The Trai said that the direction has been issued with the objective of enhancing consumer trust, curbing spam, and preventing fraudulent activities perpetrated through voice calls. “The series will enable people to reliably identify legitimate calls originating from such regulated entities,” the telecom watchdog said.
“Trai issued a direction on December 16, 2025 mandating that the entities regulated by IRDAI should adopt '1600' series numbers by the last date of 15 February, 2026 for making service and transactional calls to the consumers,” Trai said in a statement.
The mandate for last date has been issued in consultation with Irdai, it said adding earlier Trai had issued similar directions for mandatory adoptions of 1600 series numbers by entities regulated by RBI, Sebi and PFRDA.
“In response to Trai’s regulatory initiative, the 1600 numbering series has been assigned by the department of telecommunications (DoT) for allocation to entities in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, and government organisations to clearly distinguish their service and transactional calls from other commercial communications,” the statement said.