The recent report titled ‘The State of Business Calling 2026’, released by Truecaller in collaboration with Tata Tele Business Services and research partner Kantar, indicates that 79 per cent of Indian consumers avoid answering calls from unknown numbers. Interestingly, 76 per cent of these consumers still prefer voice calls over digital alternatives when engaging with businesses.

This disparity highlights a growing trend where customers are becoming selective regarding the calls they choose to answer. While voice communication remains a trusted channel, it is increasingly being filtered due to a variety of factors, including spam and unclear caller identities.

The study surveyed over 500 B2B companies and 1,000 consumers across 17 cities in India. It reveals that despite a preference for voice calls — especially in scenarios requiring clarity or urgency — customers are more reluctant to engage with unfamiliar callers.

Trust Erosion in Voice Communication

Despite the popularity of voice communication, the report suggests a decline in trust among consumers. Factors contributing to this decrease include unsolicited spam calls, the lack of clear context when receiving calls, and inconsistent identity verification from businesses. This erosion of confidence affects even compliant agencies that are seeking to engage meaningfully with their audience.

Priyam Bose, Global Head of Truecaller for Business Go-To-Market, stated that the challenge lies not in the system of calling itself but in the trust and attention levels of consumers. They now expect clear information about who is calling and why, which influences whether they will engage with the call or not.

A significant 49 per cent of consumers expressed that having the ability to arrange callbacks at a suitable time would greatly enhance their willingness to answer such calls. In addition, businesses themselves are prioritising clear caller identities and the purposes of calls, recognising the need to build trust through transparency.

Misalignment Between Business Practices and Consumer Expectations

The findings indicate a concerning misalignment between how companies utilise voice communication and the metrics they use to evaluate its success. Although 41 per cent of businesses emphasise trust and brand perception as key drivers, the performance metrics they typically track, such as Response Rate and Time to Resolution, fail to capture the broader impacts of voice communication, such as customer satisfaction and retention.

Despite functioning as a vital relationship-building tool, voice communication is often still managed as a transactional channel, leading businesses to underutilise its potential benefits. Regulations like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and the use of specific number series aim to classify promotional and service calls, yet consumers may still receive important service-related calls unwantedly.

According to Vishal Rally, Chief Revenue Officer of Tata Teleservices, voice remains essential for enterprise communication, especially in situations that require immediate human interaction. He stressed the importance of intelligent communication solutions that are secure and context-aware to keep pace with evolving customer expectations.

Significance Across Various Industries

Voice communication plays a pivotal role in sectors where urgency and trust are paramount, such as Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) and IT services, where it is crucial for compliance and verification processes. Additionally, e-commerce and logistics increasingly integrate voice with digital channels for managing transactions and customer support.

The report also introduces proprietary benchmarks, including the Voice Adoption Index and Feature Engagement Index, designed to assist businesses in evaluating their current status and guiding future investments in communication strategies.

Truecaller, with a global user base of 500 million and over 68 billion spam calls identified in the previous year, shows the pervasiveness of this issue. The combination of Truecaller’s infrastructure and Tata Teleservices’ enterprise solutions aims to address these challenges while enhancing consumer engagement across the board.

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