Google to authenticate unknown numbers, rolls out Verified Calls in select countries including India

New Delhi: Technology giant Google has rolled out the Verified Calls feature on its Phone app.

The ‘Verified Calls' shows the caller's name, logo, reason for calling and a verification symbol indicating that the business has been authenticated by Google.

“Verified Calls is a feature on Google’s Phone app, which comes pre-loaded on many Android phones and will be available for download starting later this week on even more Android devices,” Google said in a blog.

Google said that Verified Calls is initially rolling out in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Spain and India, with more countries to come.

"We've been piloting Verified Calls for a few months, and the early results indicate that it improves the likelihood of someone answering a call," Google said.

The tech giant said that Verified Calls is done in a secure way while the company doesn’t collect or store any personally identifiable information after verification.

Google added that it has been piloting Verified Calls for a few months, and the early results indicate that it improves the likelihood of someone answering a call.

“This in turn helps reduce business costs while identifying relevant calls to people in a trustworthy way. A wide range of businesses and institutions have been using Verified Calls during the pilot. For instance, banks calling to alert a customer about a possible fraudulent transaction can increase answer rates by stating the call reason. A food delivery or logistics company can do the same to make sure customers are available to receive their deliveries,” the company said.

Google said that it also has existing partners — including Neustar, Five9, Vonage, Aspect, Bandwidth, Prestus, Telecall, and JustCall — ready to help brands improve their answer rates by using Verified Calls.