Truecaller loses ground in India as competition heats up
What's the story
Truecaller, the popular caller identification app with over 500 million users worldwide, is facing a tough phase. The company's growth has been largely driven by India, which accounts for over 350 million users or nearly 70% of its global user base. However, the market is becoming increasingly competitive with telecom-led solutions and smartphone makers integrating caller ID and spam-blocking features into their operating systems.
Strategic moves
New features and tools to drive monetization
In response to the growing competition, Truecaller has launched new features like AI Assistant and Family Protection to drive monetization. The company has also introduced tools like Community Suggestions to stay relevant in the market. However, despite these efforts, data from Sensor Tower shows that downloads from India fell 16% year-over-year (YoY) in 2025 while global downloads declined by 5%, marking a reversal after years of growth.
Market dynamics
Shift in new user growth dynamics
India continues to be Truecaller's largest market, but its share of downloads has dropped from over 70% at its peak to the mid-50s in recent years. This indicates a gradual shift in new user growth toward other markets. The change in growth dynamics has raised concerns among investors, with the company's shares falling about 78% since its 2021 IPO and down around 37% so far this year.
Business impact
CNAP initiative not seen as disruption by Truecaller CEO
The Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) initiative, which displays caller names based on KYC records, overlaps with part of Truecaller's core offering. However, CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala said they don't see CNAP as a disruption but validation of the problem. He emphasized that "Truecaller operates as a global platform with a much richer and dynamic intelligence layer, spanning spam detection, fraud prevention, business identity, and user context across calls and messages. This allows us to go significantly beyond basic caller ID."
Revenue streams
Pressure on advertising segment
Truecaller is facing pressure on its advertising segment, partly due to changes from Google. The company lost about a third of ad traffic from its biggest partner in August 2025, which analysts identified as Google. Despite this setback, other parts of Truecaller's business are doing well with gross in-app revenue rising sharply from $600,000 in 2017 to $39.3 million in 2025. Monthly revenue generated by in-app purchases on Truecaller now consistently exceeds $2 million and continues to grow.
Business expansion
Steady growth in enterprise offering and subscription business
Truecaller's enterprise offering, Truecaller for Business, has been growing steadily with revenue rising 39% in constant currency in 2025. The company is also expanding its consumer subscription business which has over four million paid subscribers globally. Despite past criticism over data collection practices, Truecaller maintains that it complies with applicable regulations while continuing to expand across all three revenue streams: advertising, enterprise services and premium subscriptions.