Govt estimates notional loss of Rs 1,500 crore from illegal call centre in last 2 fiscal years

New Delhi: The government estimates that illegal routing of international calls by grey market call centres caused it notional loss of around Rs 1,539 crore in the last 2 fiscal years.

According to data shared by Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha in the Lok Sabha Wednesday, illegal routing of international calls led to notional loss of Rs 750.13 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 788.92 crore, excluding interest, in 2017-18.

"Government has taken measures to check illegal routing of international calls through local lines by setting up a grey market call centre where the subscribers provide the information about such calls on toll free number 1963/180011420," Sinha said. He said information received at toll free number 1963 and 180011420 is analysed and investigated.

"Based on the investigation, First Information Report (FIR) is filed with the concerned Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) as needed. For all the unearthed setups of illegal routing of international calls, FIRs were lodged with the concerned LEAs," Sinha said.