Calling a person who enquired on a portal yesterday is not a cold call; it is a follow-up on their enquiry. Calling a number from a purchased list of “HNIs in Bandra” is. The difference matters legally: TRAI’s TCCCPR allows promotional communication based on a recent enquiry (seven days) or registered consent, and blocks promotional calls to numbers on the DND list.
Cold calls from personal 10-digit numbers also risk the number being reported and disconnected, and under the DPDP Act a bought database rarely comes with a valid lawful basis for using the data. Most brokers get better results from warm channels — portal leads, ad forms, referrals, past clients — and from owner outreach where the owner has listed the property publicly.
Example
Warm versus cold (illustrative)
Two agents in Mumbai each make 50 calls. One calls 50 enquiries from the last three days about 1 BHK rentals in Andheri; the other calls 50 numbers from a list bought online. The first gets, say, 25 conversations and 5 visits; the second gets a handful of short calls, two complaints and a warning from the operator (illustrative).
Figures are illustrative, not market rates.
Questions about Cold calling
Is cold calling illegal in India?
Promotional calls to people who have not enquired and have not given registered consent are restricted under TRAI’s TCCCPR, and calls to DND-registered numbers for promotion are prohibited without consent. Repeated violations can lead to the caller’s number being disconnected. Check the current regulation text for details.
Is calling a portal lead a cold call?
No. The person enquired, so it is a follow-up. TRAI’s amended rules allow promotional calls and SMS based on such an enquiry for seven days from it; keep the enquiry record as evidence, and get consent for contact after that.
Sources
See also
Reviewed