Public interest outweighs concerns over privacy, says Truecaller CEO

50% of Truecaller's subscribers in India are women who use the service as a first line of defence against harassment, he says

Truecaller co-founder and CEO Alan Mamedi made a strong pitch for public good over privacy, saying that the “expectation of an individual to keep their name and phone number private when making a call is outweighed by the critical public interest and public safety concerns addressed by identifying the calling party.”   The Truecaller CEO, was in Delhi on a brief visit, met some ministers.

Responding to a question on whether India’s proposed data privacy law should  restrict the company’s ability to display the names of non-users of the service without their consent, Mamedi said : “Consumers have the right to know who is calling them. Telephone directory, caller ID and spam blocking are inalienable building blocks for safe communication for the community in a digitised world where frauds, stalking and harassment are being continuously perpetrated online and by telephone calls and messages.”   

He pointed out that 50 per cent of Truecaller’s subscribers in India are women who use the service as a first line of defence against harassment.  

Mamedi said that he expects the proposed data privacy law to make exceptions as Truecaller does not give sensitive personal data like healthcare records or financial records, but only phone numbers and names. Nearly 50 per cent of the calls on the platform are between subscribers who have the Truecaller app. And in a new trend, many of them are also using it as their dialler for calls.  

He added that the company was keen to remove misconceptions regarding it in India. “A key focus area is to remove the misconception that Truecaller has Chinese shareholders. This is despite the fact that India is our largest market, with the largest work force, and is run through an Indian company which has been storing all data within the country since 2018.”

The company has over 220 million active subscribers in India, accounting for 70 per cent of its overall global consumer base of 300 million. What’s more, it has a staff strength of 170 in the country, which comprises half its total global head count. As many as 100 people have been recruited in India in the last two years.

The other area the company is focusing on is to bring new data subscribers to the fore. “For us, first-time data users is a key focus area — more than those who will be using 5G,” Mamedi added.    

Truecaller has come under scrutiny in India recently. A magazine report claimed that the go-to app for caller ID and spam blocking has been operating in many areas without users’ consent, taking advantage of the lack of a comprehensive data protection framework in the country.

However, Mamedi asserted that Truecaller was committed to ensuring data privacy and its localisation. “Truecaller was founded in Sweden which has amongst the toughest data protection practices. We have acquired that culture. That is why we kept all data in India from way back in 2018. This is due to two reasons — one, we wanted customers to trust us with their data, and, two, by keeping data close to customers, we were able to give them a better experience.”

The Truecaller co-founder said that the company will comply with local regulations and did not anticipate any impact on their growth or user experience after the implementation of the new data privacy framework.  “We empower  our users to control their data as anyone can delist data and have a robust privacy policy that protects their rights. The majority of the other calls are harassment, sales and spam calls which Truecaller identifies to protect people,” says Mamedi.

Responding to a query on why Truecaller has not grown in other markets, especially in the US and other developed countries, Mamedi said that the premise was untrue. “In Egypt, 50 per cent of the subscribers use Truecaller. It has a large market in Israel, it’s doing well in Latin America, and in Sweden, 30 per cent of the subscribers use it. We have focused ourselves on fast-growth markets.”

The company wants to keep its business model restricted to three key areas of revenues — advertising, business services and individual premium services. It did try its hand at payments, but has decided to shelve all plans of venturing into new areas for the time being.