Lok Sabha Question No. 5552 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-06
Subject: Spam Calls
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: D.K. Suresh, Sumalatha Ambareesh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5552

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 06.04.2022

## SPAM CALLS

## 5552. SHRI D.K.SURESH: SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has received complaints regarding spam and phishing calls;
- (b) if so, the details thereof during the last three years, State-wise;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  identified  the  reasons  for  increase  in  the  incidents  of  Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC);
- (d)  if  so,  whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  guidelines  to  prevent  the  spam  calls  and  phishing calls; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a)  to  (c):The  issues  ofspam  and  phishing  calls  fall  within    the  purview  of  Ministry  of  Communications, Department of Telecommunications (DoT). As per the information received from DoT, to curb the menace of  unwanted calls and messages i.eUnsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), under DoT, has issued a regulation  namely  'Telecom  Commercial Communication Customers Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018'  which puts in place a framework for controlling UCC.

In compliance of provisions of TCCCPR, 2018 and TRAI direction dated 15 th Feb 2021, Access Providers submit Licensed Service Area (LSA) wise, monthly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMR) to TRAI. As per  the  PMRs  submitted  by  Access  Providers,  the  available  counts  of  UCC  complaints  received  against Registered  Telemarketers  (RTM)  and  Unregistered  Telemarketers(UTM)  during  the  period  1.4.2020  to 31.12.2020 and 1.1.2021 to 31.12.2021 are given in Annexure-A [Registered Telemarketers (RTMs)] and Annexure-B [Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs)]. Complaints are also received through DOT field units. The State-wise consumer complaints received in the preceding three years by DOT field units is attached as Annexure-C.

(d)  and  (e):  The  TCCCPR- 2018 regulations  require all relevant entities involved in sending commercial communications to get them registered with any of the Access Providers (i.e. Telecom Service Providers). Such entities include Senders or Principal Entities (PEs), Registered.

Telemarketers  (RTMs)  etc.    Access  Providers  are  required  to  establish  a  system  to  ensure  that  PEs  and RTMs  comply  with  the  regulatory  requirements.  In  case  of  non-compliance,  there  are  provisions  in  the regulations  that  TRAI  may  impose  Financial  Disincentives  on  the  Access  Providers.  In  turn,  Access Providers may impose financial disincentives on participating entities in case of violation of regulations that can be attributed to failure of functions assigned to such entities.

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Annexure-A Details of UCC complaints received with Access Providers against Registered Telemarketers (RTM)

| S. No.   | Name of LSA              |   1.4.2020 to 31.12.2020 |   1.1.2021 to 31.12.2021 |
|----------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh           |                    23189 |                    31245 |
| 2        | Assam                    |                     1098 |                     1670 |
| 3        | Bihar                    |                     2612 |                     7450 |
| 4        | Delhi                    |                    59513 |                    61947 |
| 5        | Gujarat                  |                    34669 |                    34143 |
| 6        | Haryana                  |                     2356 |                     4590 |
| 7        | Himachal Pradesh         |                      707 |                     1696 |
| 8        | Jammu &Kashmir           |                      478 |                     1019 |
| 9        | Karnataka                |                    46760 |                    55973 |
| 10       | Kerala                   |                     9517 |                    10778 |
| 11       | Kolkata                  |                     7651 |                    11264 |
| 12       | Madhya Pradesh           |                    17302 |                     7192 |
| 13       | Maharashtra              |                    17920 |                    40273 |
| 14       | Mumbai                   |                    77184 |                    88141 |
| 15       | North East               |                      531 |                      437 |
| 16       | Odisha                   |                     1223 |                     2600 |
| 17       | Punjab                   |                     5105 |                     8637 |
| 18       | Rajasthan                |                     4874 |                     8769 |
| 19       | Tamilnadu (incl Chennai) |                    27484 |                    34048 |
| 20       | Uttar Pradesh (East)     |                     3700 |                     6266 |
| 21       | Uttar Pradesh (West)     |                     3197 |                     5389 |
| 22       | West Bengal              |                     2041 |                     4763 |
|          | Total Complaints         |                   349111 |                   428290 |

Annexure-B

## Details of UCC complaints received with Access Providers against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTM)

|   S. No. | Name of LSA              |   1.4.2020 to 31.12.2020 |   1.1.2021 to 31.12.2021 |
|----------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh           |                    23709 |                    69370 |
|        2 | Assam                    |                      484 |                     1769 |
|        3 | Bihar                    |                     3931 |                    10447 |
|        4 | Delhi                    |                    64191 |                   152893 |
|        5 | Gujarat                  |                    21564 |                    55087 |
|        6 | Haryana                  |                     5649 |                     6197 |
|        7 | Himachal Pradesh         |                      319 |                     1787 |
|        8 | Jammu &Kashmir           |                      276 |                     1394 |
|        9 | Karnataka                |                    47043 |                   133978 |
|       10 | Kerala                   |                     4222 |                    10457 |
|       11 | Kolkata                  |                     5688 |                    17645 |
|       12 | Madhya Pradesh           |                    20395 |                    10747 |
|       13 | Maharashtra              |                    15992 |                    89701 |
|       14 | Mumbai                   |                    47634 |                   154188 |
|       15 | North East               |                      193 |                      674 |
|       16 | Odisha                   |                     1245 |                     3754 |
|       17 | Punjab                   |                     4181 |                    14018 |
|       18 | Rajasthan                |                     3036 |                    10445 |
|       19 | Tamilnadu (incl Chennai) |                    26976 |                    77117 |
|       20 | Uttar Pradesh (East)     |                     2681 |                     9403 |

| 21   | Uttar Pradesh (West)   |   3552 |   8544 |
|------|------------------------|--------|--------|
| 22   | West Bengal            |   4143 |  16162 |
|      | Total Complaints       | 307043 | 855771 |

## Annexure-C

## No of Consumer complaints received regarding spam and phishing calls as on 25.02.2022

| S. No .     | State/UT          | Name of LSA   |   No. of Consumers complaints received in the preceding 3 years regarding spam and phishing calls |   No. of Consumers complaints received in current year regarding spam and phishing calls |
|-------------|-------------------|---------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1           | Andaman &Nicobar  | WB            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 2           | Andhra Pradesh    | AP            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 3           | Arunachal Pradesh | NE            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 4           | Assam             | ASM           |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 5           | Bihar             | BH            |                                                                                                 3 |                                                                                        0 |
| 6           | Chandigarh        | PB            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 7           | Chhattisgarh      | MP            |                                                                                                15 |                                                                                       46 |
| 8           | D&NH and D&D      | GJ            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 9           | Goa               | MH            |                                                                                                 2 |                                                                                        0 |
| 10          | Gujarat           | GJ            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 11          | Haryana           | HR            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 12          | Himachal Pradesh  | HP            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 13          | Jammu and Kashmir | J&K           |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 14          | Jharkhand         | BH            |                                                                                                 2 |                                                                                        1 |
| 15          | Karnataka         | KTK           |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 16          | Kerala            | KRL           |                                                                                                 1 |                                                                                        0 |
| 17          | Ladakh            | J&K           |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 18          | Lakhsadweep       | KRL           |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 19          | Madhya Pradesh    | MP            |                                                                                                 3 |                                                                                        5 |
| 20          | Maharashtra       | MH            |                                                                                                26 |                                                                                        2 |
| 21          | Manipur           | NE            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 22          | Meghalaya         | NE            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 23          | Mizoram           | NE            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 24          | Nagaland          | NE            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 25          | NCT of Delhi      | DL            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 26          | Odisha            | ODI           |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 27          | Puducherry        | TN            |                                                                                                 4 |                                                                                        0 |
| 28          | Punjab            | PB            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 29          | Rajasthan         | RJ            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 30          | Sikkim            | WB            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 31          | Tamil Nadu        | TN            |                                                                                                17 |                                                                                        2 |
| 32          | Telengana         | AP            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 33          | Tripura           | NE            |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 34          | Uttar Pradesh     | UPE+U PW      |                                                                                                 0 |                                                                                        0 |
| 35          | Uttarakhand       | UPW           |                                                                                                 1 |                                                                                        1 |
| 36          | West Bengal       | WB            |                                                                                                 9 |                                                                                        5 |
| Grand Total | Grand Total       | Grand Total   |                                                                                                83 |                                                                                       62 |

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