India starts testing verified caller ID service; national rollout by March 2026

Telecom operators have started pilot runs of the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) feature in one circle, allowing users to see the caller’s name on incoming calls. The Department of Telecom (DoT) aims to roll out the feature across India by 31 March 2026, sources said.

According to DoT officials, Vodafone Idea has launched the CNAP pilot in Haryana, while Jio will conduct its pilot in the same circle for calls made anywhere in the country. The DoT is pushing for full-scale implementation across all circles at the earliest.

The CNAP feature will display the caller’s original name as per the KYC details used while obtaining the connection. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended in February 2024 that CNAP be activated only on subscriber request. However, the DoT proposed that the service be enabled by default, with an option for users to disable it if desired. Trai later “noted” this view without objection.

The initiative aims to curb fraud calls and combat cybercrime activities such as digital arrest and financial scams. While similar caller identification services exist via third-party apps, they rely on crowd-sourced data and are often unreliable. CNAP, by contrast, will use verified telecom KYC information, ensuring greater accuracy and trust.