To better serve Indian users, Truecaller now includes a digital government directory within the app. The company claims this will facilitate communication between Indian citizens and the government by providing quick and simple access to millions of legitimate contacts working in various government agencies.
By shielding them from potential fraud, spam, and scams, this function will also aid in fostering confidence in government services.
About 23 states and union territories are covered by the digital government directory, giving Truecaller app users access to important resources like toll-free numbers, police stations, embassies, universities, hospitals, and more.
Truecaller claims that all of this data comes straight from authoritative government institutions.
The goal of this project is to make it easier for the more than 240 million Indian users of Truecaller to get in touch with the government.
Truecaller claims to have learned from its users and other stakeholders that impersonating government officials is a common tactic used in phone scams.
When a user clicks on a number that has been confirmed as authentic, they will see a green background as well as a blue tick. According to Truecaller, the company is currently collaborating with various government agencies to increase the directory’s size, with plans to add contacts at the district & municipal levels in a later phase based on user feedback.
As an added bonus, Truecaller has made it easy for every government agency to add verified contacts and share information through the app’s directory.
Pragya Misra, Truecaller’s Director of Public Affairs, had some thoughts on the launch:
“Truecaller has evolved to become more than just a Caller Identification app and is today bridging the digital divide between the urban and growing semi-urban/rural markets in India by enabling trust in digital communication. Our attempt is to protect people from the widespread impersonation of government officials, leading to scams and frauds. We believe that with this feature, citizens can easily reach out to the right authorities when in need. This is a first-of-its-kind digital directory of government numbers, and we will keep improving on it based on user feedback. We will continue to align our efforts to make communication safe by building trust”.
