Do Call Up Registry?

The RBI made guidelines addressed to all Scheduled Commercial Banks/NBFCs who involved in DSAs/DMAs for telemarketing back in July 2006. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) later set-up a dedicated site effective September 2007.

'An amount of Rs. 500/- per call/message has been prescribed to discourage telemarketers who make calls to numbers registered in Do Not Call list. The defaulter telemarketer will face disconnection of telecom service' says an excerpt from the National Do Not Call Registry site. The site also disclaimed that it'll take at least four weeks until the system is effective.

Within a few days, hordes of people got their numbers registered on the list. Two months down the line, these people did get sales calls. Clearly, the 'movement' has no effect on the end user, who still continues to get calls from people trying to sell loans and insurance policies. The system is designed in such a way that it is difficult for the end-user to take action against these pestering calls. The consumer has to first inform his telecom service provider, who would then forward a detailed complaint to TRAI. And it is not too difficult to think how quickly one gets connected to the telecom provider's helpline, especially cellular ones.

Instead, would a reverse approach work - that people would register themselves on a 'Do Call Up' register. And what would drive people to get themselves on this list? The incentive is for the marketers to decide. Like getting paid for receiving 'unsolicited calls'?