1 out of 5 women in India receive sexual harassment calls: Truecaller report

Ahead of International Women's Day, Truecaller released the third edition of its report titled 'Understanding the impact of harassment calls & SMS in India'. This report found that in India 1 out of 5 women receive sexual harassment and inappropriate calls. But India also has the highest rate of women reporting such calls.

Truecaller says that 85% of women in India blocked numbers where they received inappropriate calls from. 45% also sought help from their respective telecom operator while another 45% tried searching for the number. The report also highlights how there are still women who choose to not take any action. "44% of women chose to ignore it and an even lower 12% reported the number to authorities," Truecaller said.

Truecaller's survey also found that harassment calls come mostly from strangers which amount to 76%. And only about 4% of these calls are from known acquaintances. Some of the areas where numbers tend to slip include women giving their phone numbers at recharge stores, restaurants, while shopping, entering contests and even filling in logbooks.

Women in metro cities are the most affected when it comes to harassment calls. Chennai tops the list followed by New Delhi, Pune and Kolkata. Another interesting trend highlighted in this report is how women felt while reporting these calls. "67% of women in India reported irritation with these calls, 60% anger, 29% of them were worried, 29% were troubled and 21% reported feeling fear," Truecaller said.

Truecaller's survey was conducted in Kenya, Columbia, Brazil and Egypt. Truecaller conducted this survey with independent market research agency Ipsos.