What does "take a call" mean?

What does "take a call" mean?

Let me cite two references:

Congress President Sonia Gandhi will take a call on the candidature of around a dozen relatives of leaders, including that of President's son, for the October 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Another reference:

We have certain guidelines & policy in delivering consignments safely & any violation in safety will not be tolerated.

If you don’t want to abide by our policy, then you are free to take a call on continuing your business with our organization.

What does "take a call" mean in the above contexts? The meaning of the phrase appears to be to "take decision". But, I do not find the phrase in any dictionary.

Can anyone shed some light?

Solution 1:

This is a phrase peculiar to India. It's not used by native English speakers. Its meaning is the same as "make the call", i.e. to make a decision.

Here are headlines from two Indian newspapers that illustrate this usage:

• "Delhi government tells HC it will take a call on night curfew soon" - Indian Express, 28/02/2021
• "Will take a call on nursery admissions in 2-3 weeks: Delhi government" - Times of India, 27/11/2020

Solution 2:

The normal, simple meaning of "take a call" is to decide to receive a phone call. For example a leader of one country would 'take a call' from another to discuss some issue, as opposed to 'not taking a call' meaning that they don't want to discuss.

By extension the phrase can be used for any form of discussion, not just a phone call. So your first could reasonably be interpreted to mean that Sonia Gandhi will discuss the candidatures of relatives with others, presumably before making a decision.

I had thought that the in second sentence "take a call" was a mistake for "make a call". In British and American English "Make a call" means to make a clear and definite decision: for example a football referee "makes a call" on whether a goal is valid or not. However I have since found several examples of Indian English where "take a call" is used with the same meaning as "make a call" in British English, i.e. "make a definite decision". 1 2

While the company may be urging you to discuss with others whether you want to abide by their safety rules, it is much more likely that they want you clearly decide if you want to continue your business with the company (in which case you need to abide by the safety rules) or not.