Mandatory govt app on phones may spur industry pushback

A push by the Centre to phone-based curb scams by mandating a government app on every smartphone in circulation is likely to be opposed by the world's largest handset makers including Apple, Google, Samsung and even industry bodies, according to multiple executives Mint spoke with.

- Shouvik Das

The app, Sanchar Saathi, offers cyber security and surveillance features.

A non-removable government app may hinder a person's right to choose, conflict with India's newly-minted data-privacy regime, and impose onerous compliance requirements, the executives said on condition of anonymity since their companies were still evaluating the government order.

On 28 November, the department of telecommunications (DOT) asked companies that sell mobile phones in India to mandatorily pre-install Sanchar Saathi on all new phones, and use software updates to load them on phones that are already in use.

Companies were given 90 days to comply and 120 days to file a compliance report, and asked to ensure that the app cannot be disabled or uninstalled at any point. Mint has seen a copy of the notification.

The DoT reinforced its message with a post on social media platform X on Monday evening.

India has about 750-800 million smartphone users, and just over 150 million smartphones are sold in India every year, as per IDC.

Two senior executives at electronics companies, who were privy to the notifications directly, said DoT's notification was served to reduce the misuse of mobile phones in various scams.