# Pesky call complaints hit record 20.75 lakh in first half of 2026 2026-08-14T04:45:38+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Complaints against pesky calls and messages have surged to over 20.75 lakh in the first half of 2026, more than two-thirds of the total 31.09 lakh logged in all of 2025, the government told Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for Telecom Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha that over 82% of these complaints were against unregistered telemarketers. The figure marks a sharp rise from 12.84 lakh complaints in 2021, which dropped to 10.83 lakh in 2022 before climbing steadily. However, action on disconnecting telecom resources used for pesky calls has fallen sharply. Between August and December 2024, 19.21 lakh connections were cut, but only 1.94 lakh were disconnected in all of 2025, and just 79,000 in the first half of 2026. In contrast, blacklisting of principal entities sponsoring such calls rose from 155 in late 2024 to 1,406 by June 2026. ## Coverage - telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com Tags: Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, pesky calls, Rajya Sabha, regulatory action, telecom complaints, telemarketers Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/pesky-call-complaints-hit-record-20-75-lakh-in-first-half-of-2026/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/pesky-call-complaints-hit-record-20-75-lakh-in-first-half-of-2026/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.