To tackle the increasing cases of phone-call-based fraud across the country, the government of India has released a separate 10-digit number series that will help citizens differentiate between legitimate calls from scam dials. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has introduced a new numbering series with the prefix '160' for 10-digit numbers. This will be used for official communication with the public by regulatory bodies, government agencies, and other financial institutions. "It has been decided to allocate a separate numbering series 160 exclusively for service and transactional voice calls as per Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR) 2018," the official note by DoT stated.