Short answer: using AI on phone calls is not illegal in India. Cold calling strangers with promotional calls from ordinary mobile numbers or SIP lines, whether a person or an AI makes them, breaks TRAI’s rules and can get every number your business uses disconnected.
The longer answer depends on who you call, from which number, and whether they asked to hear from you. Here it is in plain terms. This is a practical guide, not legal advice, and the rules were checked on 21 October 2026.
The rules in one paragraph
TRAI’s Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) govern commercial calls and messages. Promotional calls must come from registered telemarketers using the numbering series set aside for them, and must respect people’s Do Not Disturb preferences. In 2026 TRAI amended the rules specifically for automated and AI calls: calls placed by software must be declared to the operator with the numbers used, and undeclared automated calls are treated as spam. Our guide to TRAI’s new rules for AI and automated calls covers that amendment in detail.
What gets businesses blacklisted
In August 2024, TRAI directed telecom operators to stop promotional voice calls from unregistered senders using SIP, PRI or other telecom resources. The escalation is steep: a warning, then usage limits, then disconnection of all the sender’s telecom resources for up to two years and blacklisting across every operator. Within weeks, operators had blacklisted more than 50 entities and disconnected over 2.75 lakh numbers.
So the classic setup, a vendor with a bank of SIP lines and a voice bot calling a purchased list, is exactly what the rules are built to stop. If a vendor offers that, the risk sits with your business, not theirs.
What is allowed
Calling people who asked to hear from you. Someone who filled your form, sent an enquiry on a portal, gave you a missed call or asked for a callback has started the conversation. TRAI’s 2026 amendment allows inquiry-based calls for a limited period after a recorded enquiry, so keep proof of every enquiry.
Answering incoming calls with AI. An AI receptionist that picks up calls to your own number is answering, not cold calling.
Service and transactional calls to your own customers, such as appointment reminders, delivery updates and payment reminders, within the rules for those categories. Our guide to payment reminders on WhatsApp and calls covers the limits there.
Promotional calling through registered channels, with DND checks, if you genuinely need outbound campaigns. This is a regulated activity with its own setup; it isn’t something to improvise.
Good practice that keeps you safe
- Say it’s an AI. Tell callers at the start that they’re speaking to an automated assistant, and offer a person.
- Announce recording. If calls are recorded, say so.
- Offer to stop. Anyone who says “don’t call me” goes on a do-not-call list the same day.
- Call at sensible hours. Daytime and early evening, not late at night.
- Keep the enquiry record. Source, date, time and what they asked about. It’s your proof that the call was wanted, and it also helps with DPDP consent.
How we do it
Every AI employee we build follows these rules by default. Our AI sales employee calls only people who enquired, says it is an AI at the start of every call, announces recording and stops when asked. Our AI Receptionist answers your incoming calls and WhatsApp messages.
Want to see what a compliant call sounds like? Our free Hindi and Hinglish telecalling scripts have AI disclosure and opt-out built in. If you’d like to hear one for your business, ask for a callback.
