140 Number Series in India (2026): TRAI Rules, DLT Registration and How to Get One

140 number series in India (2026): TRAI rules, DLT registration and how to get one

Definition: The 140 number series is the 10-digit numbering range (numbers starting 140) that Indian telecom operators assign only to registered telemarketers for promotional voice calls. Introduced in 2011 by the Third Amendment to TRAI's 2010 customer preference regulations and carried into TCCCPR 2018, it has been routed through the operators' blockchain-based Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform since October 2024. A separate 160 series, allotted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in 2024, is reserved for service and transactional calls from government bodies and regulated financial entities. Any promotional call in India, by a human or an AI voice agent, must come from a 140 number after DLT registration; under the February 2025 amendment a first proven violation is a 15-day bar on outgoing services and a repeat is a one-year disconnection with blacklisting.

Every rule here is quoted from TRAI's notification, DoT's memorandum as reported, operator DLT portals or telephony providers' documentation, with facts checked on 14 October 2026 and sources at the end. We build AI voice agents from Gurugram and Mohali, so the last section covers running one inside these rules.

140 versus 160: which series is for which call

Series	Call type	Who can get one	Allotted by
140xx	Promotional and telemarketing voice calls, including pre-recorded or auto-dialled promotional calls	Telemarketers and senders registered on an operator's DLT platform	Access providers (Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL, Tata) against a DLT registration
1600ABCXXX	Service and transactional voice calls	Central and state government entities	DoT memorandum, May 2024; operator verifies the entity and takes a written undertaking
1601ABCXXX	Service and transactional voice calls	Entities regulated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA	Same DoT memorandum; same verification and undertaking

In the 160 format, "AB" is the circle code, "C" the operator code and "XXX" runs 000 to 999. TRAI's explanatory memorandum to the 2025 amendment states the split: promotional robo calls "should be permitted through 140-series numbers only", service and transactional calls through "1600 or any other series allotted" for them, because spammers "use normal 10-digit mobile/landline numbers to masquerade themselves as normal subscribers". One open point: TRAI's 13 March 2026 draft Third Amendment records that "it may not be desirable to mandate 1600 series numbers for all the entities in the BFSI sector"; per-regulator adoption dates are not in the documents we could read.

Who must register, and on what

TCCCPR 2018 made DLT registration the gate for all commercial communication. Vi's DLT FAQ: "it is mandatory for every entity to register on DLT platform for transmission of commercial communication", and likewise for every telemarketer. Two roles matter: the Principal Entity (PE), the business the call is about, which registers once on any operator's portal; and the Telemarketer (TM), the agency or platform calling on its behalf, which needs a Letter of Authorisation from the PE.

The portals are Jio TrueConnect, Airtel, Vi (vilpower.in), BSNL and Tata Teleservices. Exotel's DLT guide lists the fee as approximately Rs 5,900 plus GST on Jio, Airtel and Vi, with entity approval in 3 to 5 business days (Jio, Vi), 5 to 7 (Airtel) and 5 to 10 (BSNL). Vi's own FAQ states a PE fee of "INR 5,000/- (non-refundable)", a refundable INR 50,000 deposit for a telemarketer with delivery function, and approval within "72 hours from receipt of registration fees". The 2025 amendment adds physical and biometric verification of senders.

Step by step: entity, header, template, consent

Step 1: register the entity

Exotel's document list for all portals: company PAN, Certificate of Incorporation, GST certificate, an authorisation letter on letterhead, and identity and address proof of the authorised person, each a PDF or JPG under 2 MB, with the company name matching the Certificate of Incorporation exactly. Bolna's guide adds the director list and MoA and an LoA signed by a director named in it, whose mobile number and email become "your permanent registered contact for all DLT communications". PE registration is valid one year with a 30-day grace period (Vi).

Step 2: register headers

A header is your sender identity: per Vi, a unique six-character string, non-transferable, validated "within 60 mins". The 2025 amendment adds a category suffix: -P promotional, -S service, -T transactional, -G government (FoneArena).

Step 3: register content templates

Templates are registered as Promotional, Transactional or Service with fixed text and marked variables, validated within 60 minutes (Vi). Category matters: wrong-category templates are blacklisted, and the 2025 amendment suspends the sender once five are. For voice, what you play must match a registered template.

Step 4: register consent templates and acquire consent

Before asking a new subscriber for consent you register a consent template with a label, the message, the purpose and revocation instructions (Vi; English only at present). TRAI's Digital Consent Acquisition direction of 2 June 2023 routes consent-seeking messages through a common 127-series short code, requires purpose, scope and brand to be stated, allows only whitelisted links, and stores the consent on DLT for every operator to scrub against. Under the 2025 amendment, explicit consent to complete a transaction "shall be for seven days or as directed by the Authority", inferred consent lasts only for the contractual relationship, and after an opt-out you cannot ask again for 90 days (FoneArena).

Step 5: scrub every list against the DND registry

The National Customer Preference Register (the "DND" list) sits on DLT. Per Vi, the telemarketer scrubs a CSV of targets against a registered header and template; the scrubbed file "remains valid until 23:59:59 on the same day", and changing either means scrubbing again. Under the 2025 amendment a complainant no longer needs a registered preference first.

Step 6: get the 140-series number

With PE and TM IDs you apply to an access provider or reseller. Bolna's guide is the clearest public description: "DLT registration is mandatory to procure 140 or 160-series numbers from Indian telephony providers"; its 140 numbers come through Vobiz against a PE registration on the Tata Teleservices portal (Rs 5,900 after digital KYC), its 160 numbers through Plivo, active only after header and template approval. Step timelines are not published.

Penalties: what the 2025 amendment actually says

TRAI notified the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025 on 12 February 2025, in force 30 days after gazette publication (60 days for a few regulations). Sender-side provisions, quoted from the notification:

• Complaint and action windows. A complaint must be made "within seven days of receipt". Complaints from "five or more than five unique Recipients during the last ten days" trigger suspension of the resources used and an investigation "within five business days" of the sender's representation.
• First proven violation. "Outgoing services of all the telecom resources of the Sender including PRI/SIP trunks etc shall be barred by all the Access Providers for a period of fifteen days."
• Second and subsequent violations. All telecom resources "shall be disconnected by all the Access Providers for one year", the sender is blacklisted with no new resources from any operator, and "all the devices used for making UCC shall also be blocked" for one year. One telephone number may be retained.
• Unregistered telemarketers. TRAI's August 2024 directions: warning, then a six-month usage cap, then disconnection of all telecom resources "for a period up to two years" with blacklisting. By September 2024 operators had blacklisted over 50 entities and disconnected more than 2.75 lakh numbers and resources (Storyboard18, quoting TRAI).
• Operators are fined too. Misreporting the UCC count from registered telemarketers costs an access provider "two lakhs rupees", then five lakh and ten lakh for consecutive months, capped by regulation 28A at "fifty lakhs rupees per calendar month per LSA". Operators may also forfeit senders' security deposits.
• Robo-calls and auto-diallers. Regulation 4: "Every Sender shall notify the Originating Access Provider, in advance, about the use of Auto Dialer or Robo-Calls as well as the intended objective of such calls in writing."

Truecaller and other caller-ID apps

First, regulation 34A, inserted by the 2025 amendment: "No Call Management Application or similar services shall tag, block, filter, or restrict incoming calls or messages originating from the designated number series assigned for commercial communications", while consumers keep their own preferences. TRAI's July 2026 press release (No. 91/2026) repeats that tagging or filtering 140-series calls is not allowed except for blocking through the DND registry.

Second, you can put your identity on the call. Truecaller's Verified Business Caller ID, sold in India through operators and CPaaS providers, shows the business name, a verification checkmark, logo and category (plus an optional call-reason tag on some plans) to recipients with Truecaller installed. Exotel's documentation lists the requirements (a registered business entity, a Truecaller for Business account, name, logo and details), the submission (numbers to verify, a PNG logo of at least 200 by 200 pixels, category, website, address, email) and the timeline: 3 to 7 business days for review plus 1 to 2 for activation. It warns that "calling DND-registered numbers or making excessive unsolicited calls can result in your verification being revoked". Tata Tele Business Services, which launched it for enterprise customers in November 2023, describes a green badge with brand name and logo. It sits on top of DLT registration, not in place of it.

Where AI voice agents fit

An outbound AI voice agent is, in the regulator's vocabulary, a robo-call: TRAI's March 2026 draft defines one as "any call made to any customer using an artificial or prerecorded voice". The rules apply in full, and only consent-based calling works inside them:

• Promotional agent. Only from a 140-series number, only to DND-scrubbed or consented numbers, with the script matching a registered promotional template and the auto-dialler declared to the operator in writing.
• Service agent. Appointment confirmations, delivery updates, payment reminders and support call-backs to your own customers are service calls. Eligible government and regulated financial entities make them from 1600 or 1601 numbers; other businesses from their registered numbers, with the sender on DLT and consent inferred from the contract. Service content must not be promotional.
• Inbound agent. Answering calls customers make to you is not commercial communication under these regulations.

This is how we scope the AI voice agents we build in Gurugram and Mohali: from $599 for a single flow with transfer to a human, to $6,000+ for multi-flow, CRM-integrated deployments with consent capture, recording disclosure and DND scrubbing built in. Fees are one-time, in USD; Indian clients are invoiced in INR with GST; platform minutes and numbers are billed by the voice provider. We have not yet published a voice case study, so read our AI agent work as proof of how we build, not of call outcomes. Other tiers are on the pricing page.

Checklist before the first promotional call

1. Principal Entity registered on one operator DLT portal; PE ID issued; renewal date noted.
2. Telemarketer or platform registered with a Letter of Authorisation; TM ID issued.
3. Headers registered with the right suffix (-P for promotional).
4. Promotional, service and consent templates registered in the right category; scripts match them.
5. Consent acquired via the DCA short code and stored on DLT, with revocation instructions.
6. Every outbound list scrubbed against NCPR on the day of calling.
7. 140-series number provisioned; service calls kept off it.
8. Written auto-dialler notice to the originating access provider.
9. Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID applied for, if you want the badge.
10. Complaint handling ready: five complaints in ten days triggers suspension.

For a second pair of eyes on an existing calling setup, ask for a free audit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 140 number series used for?

Promotional and telemarketing voice calls in India. Operators assign 140 numbers only to DLT-registered senders and telemarketers, the calls have been routed through DLT since October 2024, and TRAI's 2025 memorandum permits promotional robo calls through 140-series numbers only.

What is the difference between the 140 and 160 series?

140 is for promotional calls from any registered telemarketer. 160, allotted by DoT in May 2024, is for service and transactional calls: 1600 for government entities, 1601 for entities regulated by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA, after operator verification and a written undertaking.

How much does DLT registration cost?

Vi's FAQ states a non-refundable Principal Entity fee of INR 5,000; Exotel's guide quotes approximately Rs 5,900 plus GST on Jio, Airtel and Vi; Bolna cites Rs 5,900 on the Tata portal. A telemarketer with delivery function also places a refundable INR 50,000 deposit on Vi.

Can I make promotional calls from my normal business number?

No. Promotional calls must come from 140-series numbers. A first proven violation bars outgoing services on all your telecom resources for 15 days; a repeat disconnects them for one year and blacklists you.

Does an AI voice agent need the same registration as a human caller?

Yes, plus one step: under regulation 4 of the 2025 amendment the sender must notify the originating access provider in writing, in advance, that it uses an auto-dialler or robo-calls and for what purpose.

Will Truecaller mark my 140 number as spam?

Regulation 34A bars call-management apps from tagging, blocking or filtering the designated commercial series, and TRAI reiterated this in July 2026; consumers keep their own preferences. Truecaller's Verified Business Caller ID can add your name, logo and badge, and can be revoked for calling DND-registered numbers (Exotel documentation).

Sources (checked 14 October 2026)

• TRAI, Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025, notified 12 February 2025, with explanatory memorandum: trai.gov.in (Regulation_12022025.pdf) (regulation 4 on auto-diallers; seven-day consent; five complaints in ten days; 15-day bar and one-year disconnection; financial disincentives of Rs 2, 5 and 10 lakh and the Rs 50 lakh monthly cap; regulation 34A; 140 and 1600 series in the memorandum; August 2024 UTM penalties)
• TRAI, Press Release No. 11/2025 on the amendment, 12 February 2025: trai.gov.in (PR_No.11of2025.pdf)
• FoneArena, "TRAI amends TCCCPR 2025: Tougher rules to curb spam calls and SMS": fonearena.com (header suffixes -P/-S/-T/-G; 90-day re-consent bar; biometric verification)
• Bar & Bench, "TRAI's crackdown on spam calls and AI-driven telemarketing", 9 March 2026: barandbench.com (2011 introduction of the 140 series; October 2024 DLT migration; August 2024 penalties)
• TRAI, Consultation on Draft Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, 13 March 2026: trai.gov.in (Draft_CP_13032026_0.pdf) (robo-call definition; BFSI 1600 mandate discussion; Schedule I verification)
• TRAI, Press Release No. 91/2026, July 2026: trai.gov.in (PR_No91of2026.pdf) (no tagging or filtering of 140 and 1600 calls except DND blocking)
• Moneylife, "Service and Transaction Calls To Originate from 160 Number Series Soon: DoT", 29 May 2024: moneylife.in (1600ABCXXX and 1601ABCXXX formats, eligibility, verification and undertaking)
• TRAI, Press Release No. 53/2024, 20 August 2024, as summarised by Vikaspedia: vikaspedia.in (140-series migration to DLT by 30 September 2024; wrong-category template blacklisting)
• Storyboard18, "TRAI crackdown on spammers: telcos blacklist 50 entities, disconnect 2.75 lakh numbers", 4 September 2024: storyboard18.com
• TRAI, Press Release No. 50/2023 on Digital Consent Acquisition, 2 June 2023: trai.gov.in (PR_No.50of2023.pdf), with TelecomTalk's summary: telecomtalk.info (127 short code; purpose, scope and brand in the consent message; whitelisted links; revocation)
• Vi DLT (Vilpower) FAQ: vilpower.in/faq (mandatory registration; INR 5,000 fees and INR 50,000 deposit; LoA; 60-minute header and template validation; consent template fields; scrubbing validity; 72-hour approval; one-year validity)
• Exotel, "DLT Entity Registration": developer.exotel.com (portal URLs; approx. Rs 5,900 + GST; approval times; document list and 2 MB limit)
• Bolna, "How to Get 140 & 160-Series Phone Numbers in India": bolna.ai/docs (Vobiz for 140, Plivo for 160; Tata DLT portal; Rs 5,900 payment link; documents; activation sequence)
• Exotel, "Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID": developer.exotel.com (what recipients see; requirements; 3 to 7 day review; revocation for DND calling)
• Tata Tele Business Services and Truecaller press release, 30 November 2023: cxotoday.com (green badge, brand name and logo; Call Reason, Video Caller ID, Call Feedback)
• Digital Patron: AI voice agents ($599 to $6,000+), AI agents, pricing and free audit