Budget: DoT allocated additional ₹38.76 cr for system to block spoof int’l calls
Multiple scammers masquerade as police, FedEx employees, and others to call victims from international phone numbers that appear as Indian numbers.
New Delhi: Union finance minister Niramala Sitharaman, in the Union Budget presented on Tuesday, announced an additional Rs.38.76 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for setting up the Centralized International Out Roamer (CIOR), a system used to detect and block spoof international calls that show an Indian number.
This allocation caused a marginal increase over the interim budget. Overall, the department’s budget has increased by 13.78% from Rs.98,359.41 crore (RE FY24) to Rs.1,11,915.43 crore (BE FY25).
Also Read: Union Budget: Customs duty reduced on mobile parts, hiked on telecom equipment
Multiple scammers masquerade as police, FedEx employees, and others to call victims from international phone numbers that appear as Indian numbers on the victims’ phones.
Meanwhile, the budget for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was reduced by 64.73% from Rs.311.9 crore (revised estimate) to Rs.110 crore (budgeted estimate), the same as the interim budget.
The budget for the Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) was increased from Rs.50 crore (RE FY24) to Rs.85 crore (BE FY25), a 70 per cent increase, the same as the interim budget. The DIU is a project whose aim is to investigate the fraudulent use of telecom resources, such as spam calls and messages.
Capital infusion in BSNL has been increased by 28% from Rs.64,787.17 crore (RE FY24) to Rs.82,916.2 crore (BE FY25), the same as the interim budget. This accounts for the lion’s share of allocation to the DoT. Payments of the principal amount of MTNL bonds have also increased 324.15% from Rs.865 crore (RE FY24) to Rs.3,668.97 crore (BE FY2025). Support to PSUs, primarily MTNL and BSNL, has increased by 21.6% from Rs.72,585.94 crore (RE FY24) to Rs.88,264.92 crore (BE FY25).
DoT’s investment in MTNL has decreased by 39.66% from Rs.14,205.11 crore to Rs.8,571.08 crore. DoT’s investment in BSNL will increase by 27.8% from Rs.65,287.17 crore to Rs.83,416.2 crore. DoT’s investments in TCIL will also decrease by 22.9% from Rs.406 crore to Rs.313 crore. In all, the DoT’s investment in public enterprises will increase by 15.66% from Rs.80,128.28 crore to Rs.92,678.28 crore.