List of Banks, Insurance Firms & Lenders Who Have Not Dealt With TRAI's New SMS Rules

A majority of banks, insurance providers, and lenders are on the TRAI's database of defaulters for failure to follow the current set of SMS-to-customer rules. In a massive information release, TRAI has written to core ministries alliances like COAI and Nasscom, and nodal entities like the NIC to facilitate a seamless rollout of its latest bulk message regulations after March 31. According to sources in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), NIC has told the regulator that it is ready to assist government organisations and agencies and address any problems that might emerge when new regulations for commercial messages come into effect. Technology assistance for governance services is provided by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The authority has responded to prominent stakeholders in a multitude of sectors, explaining the regulations in depth and advising them to urge entities and organisations within their oversight to conform with the latest regulatory requirement as soon as possible. According to the reports, TRAI also addressed industry associations CII, FICCI, Assocham, Nasscom, and COAI as part of its outreach initiative, asking them to remind their member organisations about new regulatory standards. TRAI has also written to agencies such as NIC, CDAC, and all government organisations that benefit from subsidized SMSes. In turn, core central ministries and state chief secretaries have been notified about the subject.

The TRAI's latest commercial message regulatory requirement, which is centered on blockchain technology, seeks to eliminate unwanted and illegitimate messages. Text headers and templates should be registered with telecom operators for legitimate organisations sending commercial text messages, according to the rules. When customer institutions such as banks, payment companies, and others send SMSes and OTPs, they are authenticated with templates located on the blockchain network, a method known as SMS scrubbing. The issuance of a header, the registration of a template, and a variety of other checks and balances will enable legitimate individuals to verify their identity and communication intent.

That being said, earlier this month, telcos adopted the TRAI standards without the matching steps in effect by principal institutions that send out fraud bulk, commercial messages, causing a significant failure in transactions such as banking, credit card payment, and certain other services that involve SMSes and OTP generation. To prevent any interruption of communication with customers beginning April 1, 2021, defaulting organisations must conform with the stipulated conditions by March 31, 2021, according to TRAI. As enough time has been given to principal entities/telemarketers to conform with regulatory requirements and because customers cannot be further denied of the benefits of regulatory rules, it has been agreed that any message failing in the scrubbing process due to non-compliance with regulatory requirements will be rejected by the system from April 1, 2021, according to TRAI.

Concerning the interruption, TRAI granted those companies a temporary reprieve, but required them to take immediate steps to follow the rules. Despite repeated reminders, the telecom regulator issued a list of 40 "defaulter" principal entities on Friday, including major banks such as HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and ICICI Bank, who were not complying with its regulatory norms on bulk commercial messages. To prevent any interruption of communication with customers effective from April 1, 2021, TRAI has instructed these banks, insurance providers, and other lenders to meet the regulatory criteria by March 31, 2021. RBI, SEBI, IRDA, State and Central government departments, and other autonomous bodies have also been taken into consideration.

List of Banks, Insurance Firms, and Other Lenders Who Have Not Yet Complied With The TRAI's New SMS Rules