While the government aims to manage technology through new regulations, recent actions in the telecom sector suggest that heavy-handed policies can have unintended negative consequences. The ongoing dispute between Truecaller and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) serves as a cautionary tale. By barring caller identification apps from tagging or filtering calls from the 140 and 1600 number series—which are increasingly used by spammers—the regulator has effectively tied the hands of tools that consumers rely on for protection. Truecaller reports that users are manually blocking hundreds of thousands of these calls daily, proving that the current regulatory directive is failing to curb the spam problem.
This situation highlights the risk of top-down regulation that ignores real-world usage patterns and user feedback. If the government’s upcoming AI legislation follows a similar path—prioritizing rigid mandates over collaborative, evidence-based solutions—it could stifle the very innovation it seeks to promote. Over-regulating emerging technologies before they are fully understood may discourage startups and developers, potentially forcing them to move their operations elsewhere. To be effective, any new regulatory framework must be flexible, transparent, and prioritize the actual needs and safety of the end-user rather than imposing blanket restrictions that ultimately worsen the user experience.