140 series number: what it is, who calls from it, and why

A 140 series number is a phone number beginning with 140 that belongs to the special range India sets aside for promotional calls. TRAI's February 2025 amendment requires commercial calls to come only from registered headers or from numbers allotted to senders out of such special series, and its explanatory memorandum says that, as things stand, promotional calls, auto-dialled and robo-calls among them, are to be allowed only from 140-series numbers. For service and transactional calls there is a separate range, the 1600 series, which the Department of Telecommunications had recently allotted. Because one 140 number is shared among several businesses, the memorandum warns that apps blanket-blocking such numbers hurt genuine senders, and the amendment now bars call management apps from tagging or blocking the designated series. NLCaller, a call management app built around the salesperson's own phone, does not issue 140 or 1600 numbers: it calls from the ordinary SIM in each team member's phone, one person on each call, and leaves the promotional-or-not judgement to the business.

In short, a 140 prefix tells you the call is meant to be promotional. It does not by itself tell you which company is calling.

Calls from the 140 range come from businesses and telemarketers sending promotional material, such as offers on loans, property, courses or consumer goods. The memorandum points out that 140-series numbers are shared among multiple entities, so the same number may carry campaigns for different brands, and one misuse can lead apps to block it for everyone. TRAI's concern was that such blanket blocking pushes legitimate telemarketers back to unauthorised 10-digit numbers, which defeats the purpose of having a separate series (memorandum, paragraph 45).

When you complain about such a call, the operator records the name of the business it was made for and its purpose if you provide them, though these details are optional (regulation 23(5) proviso (b)).

The route TRAI provides is preference registration with your own operator. Blocking all promotional communication uses code 50, through *1909*50#, an SMS saying BLOCK PROMO to 1909, or a call to 1909; single categories such as real estate or health have codes of their own, each listed on our page about DND rules and block codes. If a promotional call still arrives after you have registered, complain to your operator within seven days.

You can also block one particular number on your own phone. The amendment stops apps from blocking the whole series on your behalf, but it keeps your right to manage your own call preferences individually.

The rules here come from TRAI's Second Amendment of 2025 to the regulations on commercial communication and customer preferences, and from the explanatory memorandum published with it. The memorandum explains the reasons behind each change; the numbered regulations carry the binding text.

Number allocations and rules are updated over time, and TRAI had a further amendment under consultation in 2026. For the position on the day you read this, check trai.gov.in or ask your telecom operator.

General information only, not legal advice. Based on the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025, which TRAI notified on 12 February 2025; we read it on 3 October 2026. PDF: trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-02/Regulation_12022025.pdf