Further information regarding upcoming data protection legislation in India

The new Digital Personal Data Protection Law has now been adopted by the Indian Parliament. Among other things, the new law regulates the processing of personal digital data used in a commercial context in India. Truecaller has actively followed the process with the new law since its inception in 2019 and is well prepared to be compliant with it.

The law intends to give citizens more control over their data and what it is allowed to be used for. This creates transparency and accountability between data subjects and data fiduciaries such as Truecaller.

Today more than 356 million persons, of which more than 255 million in India, use Truecaller every month. In India more than 50 percent of all connected smartphones use Truecaller regularly. The application is used for e.g. making calls, sending and receiving messages, as well as identifying incoming calls. Caller identification helps users of the service to have a safe communication experience and saving time and money by e.g. avoiding having to respond to spammy sales calls and other unknown calls, as well as preventing fraud.

There is a common misconception about what data Truecaller processes and how this law will impact the product and its utility. We therefore want to clarify how Truecaller collects and processes data either with explicit consent or for legitimate use cases.

The incoming calls to Truecaller users can be categorized into three main segments. Below is an illustration of each of these categories and how the law impacts the data processing related to each of them from the Indian Truecaller users perspective:

1. Calls from scammers, spammers and businesses which represents approximately 40-45% of all calls. Processing of this data is not impacted by the Bill.

2. Calls from Truecaller users calling other Truecaller users, which represents approximately 40% of all calls. Processing of this data is not impacted by the Bill.

In total, more than 80% of all calls and approximately 90% of messages identified by Truecaller on a daily basis are considered not impacted by the law since they are either already consented, collected in order to prevent fraud or not considered personally identifiable information (“PII”).

3. Calls from non-Truecaller users which is the remaining part, and a much smaller part of the Truecaller experience. For this category, Truecaller's assessment is that there are legitimate reasons under the new legislation to collect and process data in the same way as today, i e by displaying a name associated with incoming calls. Truecaller is however prepared for a scenario where such data categories could be impacted by the new law, and a small portion of the identified names may not be displayed. Even in such a case, Truecaller will still be able to provide a nearly equivalent user experience. This is due to the fact that Truecaller for years has worked on complementary measures, namely our AI Identity product suite, to enhance our service. In simple terms, we show useful information to the call recipient without processing PII. These products have already been rolled out and are today covering many cases of non-Truecaller users calling Truecaller users. The scope and functionality of the AI Identity products will continue to be improved, with even higher accuracy, in order to further increase the quality of the services Truecaller offers its users.

Many other clauses of the new law, including the right to download, edit or delete your data have been part of Truecaller’s DNA since inception.

Truecaller's assessment is that the new legislation does not affect the way advertisements are delivered, the subscription service, or Truecaller for Business, as these are covered by Truecaller's terms of use directly with our users.

Truecaller has already seen data privacy laws passed in other key markets such as e g Nigeria which continues to be a high growth market also after the implementation of such a law.

The Personal Data Protection Bill in India means that Truecaller has a clear guidance on how to continue to develop our services for India and we applaud the Indian government for taking a well thought out and balanced approach that carves out pathways of building trust between data subjects and data fiduciaries. This is precisely what we build at Truecaller - Trust - and we are confident that we can work effectively in tandem with the Indian authorities to further improve the communication experience for all Indians.

Our assessment remains that the new law will not affect the user experience or income in any significant manner.

For more information, please contact:
 

Andreas Frid, Head of IR & Communication

+46 705 290800
andreas.frid@truecaller.com

About Truecaller:
Truecaller (TRUE B) is the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication. We enable safe and relevant conversations between people and make it efficient for businesses to connect with consumers. Fraud and unwanted communication are endemic to digital economies, especially in emerging markets. We are on a mission to build trust in communication. Truecaller is an essential part of everyday communication for more than 356 million active users, with half a billion downloads since launch and around 38 billion unwanted calls identified and blocked in 2021. Headquartered in Stockholm, since 2009, we are a co-founder led, entrepreneurial company, with a highly experienced management team. Truecaller is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since 8 October 2021. For more information, please visit corporate.truecaller.com