How many times do you get SMSs that have no purpose and merely act as a promotion for some real estate company or a lottery ticket offer? The Indian government is finally working out a series of solutions to fix these scams so that not only you are aware about the contents of the SMS but also its source. 

That’s not all, these promotional messages will now also have to include an opt-out option, something that you see with the ads and business messages on WhatsApp.

The telecom body is handling the issue related to spam calls but spam SMSs need equal attention, especially since they carry website URLs that are linked to dangerous websites to steal your data. 

New SMS Header Codes: What These Rules Mean 

The latest notification from the TRAI has come into effect from May 2025, and basically helps you differentiate between messages that are promotional, service and even from the government. To make this happen, the authority has demanded the service providers to have these header codes in their SMSs: 

“-P" for Promotional

“-S" for Service

“-T" for Transactional

“-G" for Government messages

As you can see here, any message with P, S, T or G at the end of the SMS header will help you identify the content and context of the SMS. For instance, VA-LABPTH-P is a promotional message, while VA-ICICIT-S will be notified as a service SMS. 

You will also get important SMS alerts from the government during big events that will get G as the header alphabet. “Dedicated category for Government messages to ensure recipients do not miss important communications," the TRAI press note explains. 

A Big And Important Change: Here’s Why 

SMS scams have been prevalent for years and unless you rely on third-party tracker apps, it is tough to decipher if the message is from a genuine source or the scammer.

Having these headers with the official stamp of the government needs to be informed to millions of phone users in the country and alert them about the changes and how they can now avoid falling prey to the scammers. 

These new headers come into effect along with the recent ruling to get rid of the 10-number telecall numbers for sales. You will now see most of these promotional sale calls with prefix-140 that will be automatically blocked thanks to various measures put in place on the backend by the operators.