Banks given time till mid-December to deal with pesky calls

Coming down heavily on pesky callers, the telecom regulator TRAI today said it has penalised some service providers, but has given banks time till mid-December to check unsolicited commercial calls and SMSes.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman Rahul Khullar said insurance companies have asked for four-six weeks to deal with unsolicited commercial calls (UCC) or SMSes.

“We have stringently implemented guidelines on pesky calls and have penalised some operators. We have so far not penalised banks and insurance companies,” Khullar told presspersons here.

Explaining why banks were not penalised, Khullar said the authority was approached by telecom operators with complaints against the banks following which the banks also approached them.

“At that time I exercised regulatory forbearance and wrote a speaking order that it will lead to major inconvenience to the public and throw financial transactions out of order.

“Therefore, I will give them an opportunity to mend their ways. We gave them two-three weeks to come back to us. Many of the banks assured us that they will check this,” he added.

Insurance agencies have asked for four-six weeks to deal with pesky calls, he said, adding that TRAI has warned the banks and insurance companies that if pesky calls continue, the authority will cut their connections.

“But for others, we are strictly implementing the regulations. We have requests pending from some high-profile builders who have requested us not to cut their connections,” Khullar said.

In September, TRAI directed Axis Bank, Citibank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Punjab National Bank and SBI to report to it within a week on use of unregistered telemarketers by them for promotion of their business.

In August, the sectoral regulator had come out with regulations that the phone connections of banks, insurance firms and realty players would be disconnected if rules on unwanted calls and messages were flouted by them, or on their behalf.

The new rules issued by the authority includes a fine of Rs 5,000 per complaint on a telecom firm if found that pesky calls or SMS were made by unregistered telemarketers using their network.