TRAI DND Rules and Your Business Calls: What a Clinic or Shop May and May Not Do

2026-09-08 · 8 min read

Every Indian business owner has been on the receiving end of the calls TRAI's rules exist to stop. Fewer know how those rules apply to their own phone: the appointment reminder, the report-ready call, the follow-up to an enquiry. This is the practical version, written for a clinic or shop rather than a telemarketer, with the one rule that keeps you safe.

What the DND registry is

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India runs a registry, commonly called DND, on which any subscriber can block commercial communication. Under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, a number on the registry must not receive promotional calls or messages, and the operators are required to enforce that. Complaints are traced back to the sender, and repeated violations lead to the sending number being disconnected. The rules have been tightened more than once, most recently with stricter tracing of who sent what.

Service calls versus promotional calls

The rules distinguish between transactional or service communication and promotional communication. A call or message that relates to a transaction the customer has already entered into with you is service communication: 'your appointment is tomorrow at 4', 'your report is ready', 'your car is ready for pickup', 'we tried to reach you about your enquiry'. A call whose purpose is to sell something to someone who did not ask is promotional: 'we have a new dental offer', 'book a full body check-up at 40 percent off', 'our gym has a monsoon discount'.

The test is not whether you know the person. A promotional call to your own patient is still promotional. The test is whether the call serves something they asked for.

What this means for a receptionist

An inbound receptionist is on the right side of the rules by construction: the caller rang you. The only outbound calls a receptionist should ever make are service calls to your own customers about their own business with you, and even those should be few and obviously useful. That is why HiThisIs makes outbound calls only for things like an appointment reminder to a patient who booked, and never dials a list, never runs a campaign, and refuses to be configured to do so. If a vendor offers to have its 'AI receptionist' call prospects, it is selling a telemarketing dialler, and your number will be the one reported.

The number you call from

TRAI has moved commercial calling onto identifiable number series so that a recipient can tell what a call is before answering: the 140 series has long been for telemarketing, and a separate series has been introduced for service and transactional calls by businesses. What matters for a small business is simpler: service calls to your own customers from your own business number, about their own appointment or order, are what the framework treats as legitimate, and promotional calling needs a registered telemarketer and the proper number series. Verify the current position on the TRAI website before setting up any outbound activity, because the details change.

Messages follow the same logic

The same split applies to SMS: transactional messages through a registered sender and approved templates, promotional messages only to numbers not on the registry and only through a registered route. WhatsApp business messaging has its own approval system for templates, which is why a well-run alert or reminder arrives as an approved template rather than free text. A reminder that says 'your appointment is at 4 pm tomorrow' is service; one that adds 'and ask about our whitening offer' has become promotional, and the mixture is what gets numbers reported.

The one rule

Only ever call or message a person about something they asked you for. If you keep to that, DND, the number series and the template rules take care of themselves, because you never send anything they were designed to stop. The moment a call exists to sell rather than to serve, it needs a registered telemarketer, the right number series, and a list scrubbed against the registry, and it should not go anywhere near your reception line.

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Common questions

Can I call my own patients with an offer?

That is promotional communication, whoever the recipient is. It needs a registered route and a number that is not on the DND registry, and it should not be done from a reception line.

Is an appointment reminder allowed to a DND number?

A reminder about an appointment the patient booked is service communication, which the rules permit. Keep it to the appointment and add nothing promotional.

Does an inbound AI receptionist need any TRAI registration?

Answering calls people make to you is not commercial communication. The rules bite on what you send out, not what you receive.

What happens if someone reports my number?

Complaints are traced to the sender. Repeated violations lead to warnings, then disconnection of the number, which for a clinic means losing the number patients know.

Where do I check the current rules?

On the TRAI website under the commercial communications regulations. The framework is updated periodically, so check before setting up any outbound calling or messaging.

Sources: TRAI

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