Update: How to check if you're on the DND Registry

UPDATE: While the below mentioned report guided the most of us, to either get on or off the DND Registry, there’s another group  - ones who didn’t know if their number was already included in the DND Registry, or not. It is now possible to check if your number is indeed a part of it. All that you got to do is click on - http://ndncregistry.gov.in/ndncregistry/search.misc and enter your mobile number in the blank space below, and hit OK. 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has limited text messages to 100 per day, but of course, not all telecom services have stopped their text messages. Some of these are important to you, such as the SMS confirmation of transactions sent by your bank or confirmation of your movie tickets and some such as preventing hair loss may not be. Getting on the National Do Not Call registry is simple enough to do. You have two options. One is to send a text message to 1909 with START DND. The other option is to call 1909 and follow the instructions provided.

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If you don’t want to be disturbed

When you send the message, you will have to wait until you get a confirmation. The DND does not have to be a blanket no-calls-no-SMS feature. Once you confirm that you want to get on the Registry, you will be provided with a list of codes that you can use to specify which services will still be allowed to contact you. For instance, 1 will be banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards, 2 will be real estate, 3 will be education, 4 will be health, 5 with be consumer goods, 6 will be broadcasting/communication/IT/technology and 7 will be travel and leisure. You can SMS back following instructions for using the codes corresponding to the services you wish to allow. You can even specify which companies will be allowed to contact you. So for instance, if you choose banking, you can specify which bank can message you. However, you will still get promotional messages as you cannot specify what type of communication you receive from the company.

Send START DND to 1909 and wait for your confirmation

The TRAI website says that you should be on the National Do Not Call Registry within 45 days, but usually it takes about 3 days to activate. If you still get unsolicited communication from telemarketers, you can complain to your service provider. TRAI will not handle complaints directly. On the TRAI website, they’ve stated that for every unsolicited call, Rs. 500 will be paid to the service provider the first time around and Rs. 1,000 for every subsequent unsolicited call. Which means there is a financial incentive for service providers to stay on top of unsolicited activity. However, if the service providers themselves start placing unsolicited calls, you’re basically stuck and have no one to complain to. The website also states that the service provider is liable to pay an amount not exceeding Rs. 5,000 for first non-compliance of the regulation and in case of second or subsequent such non-compliance, an amount not exceeding Rs.20,000 for each such non-compliance as a financial disincentive. But as mentioned above, there is no one to complain to when your service provider doesn’t play by the rules.

If you want to edit your DND preferences, you have to wait till 90 days from your last DND activity. If you want to get off the Do Not Call registry either SMS STOP DND to 1909 and follow the instructions provided in subsequent messages or call 1909. If you’re not registered with DNCR at all, you will receive transactional communication 24/7 and promotional communication from 9 am to 9 pm.