New Delhi: Aiming to thwart mobile operators on unsolicited calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed its decision to impose a fine on mobile operators in case subscribers listed on the National Do Not Call (NDNC) registry continue to get calls from telemarketers.

Tightening its screw further on the unsolicited commercial call issue, the TRAI on Monday said that it would impose a fine of up to Rs. 5,000 on service providers for first unsolicited tele-marketing calls and messages to the customers registered with the ‘national do not call’ (NDNC) registry and Rs 20,000 for every subsequent call that the subscriber receives from a telemarketer. TRAI has also imposed a fine of Rs 500 on the telemarketing company for calling subscribers listed on the registry.

TRAI said, “The objective is to increase the effectiveness of compliance of these regulations by providing financial disincentive to non-compliant telecom service providers and thereby reducing the nuisance and inconvenience to the subscribers from the unsolicited tele-marketing calls/messages.”

According to TRAI more than 8.3 million mobile subscribers have listed their number on the registry. About 13,600 telemarketers have got themselves registered with the Department of Telecommunication. It is being accessed daily by about 600 tele-marketers for scrubbing their calling list.

TRAI’s decision has come in response to subscribers’ complaints on receiving unwanted calls from telemarketing companies despite having put their number of the NDNC registry. It would come into effect from the date of its publication in the gazette notification.