The original directive, issued on November 28, required all phone makers to have every new device in India with Sanchar Saathi pre-installed.
JK News Today
New Delhi, Dec. 03: Five days after the government issued a directive to mobile phone manufacturers and importers of handsets intended for use in India to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on every phone, the communications ministry issued a press release on Wednesday saying it has decided to remove the mandate.
“Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, the Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers,” said the press release.
This came after communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that the government is open to amending the directive if people flag genuine issues.
The original directive, issued on November 28, required all phone makers to have every new device in India with Sanchar Saathi pre-installed. The language of the directive suggested that users could not remove or disable it. This raised immediate concerns among privacy experts and civil society groups.
The government clarified that the app could be deleted from the phone if a user wanted. But concerns persisted that the app could become a government “snooping” tool.
As criticism mounted, Scindia told Lok Sabha that Sanchar Saathi does not access personal data and cannot be used for snooping, and insisted that the directive was meant only to simplify access to the app’s fraud-prevention tools.
Department of telecommunication (DoT) secretary Neeraj Mittal said the reason behind ending the mandate is that the app has become popular, so there was no reason to make it mandatory. “Just in one day, 600,000 citizens have registered for downloading the app, which is a 10x increase in its uptake. This is an affirmation of faith by citizens on this app for protecting themselves, provided to them by the government,” said the press release.
A person aware of the matter said that the DoT had come under “too much pressure” from the industry and the public outrage that followed. “Once they conceded that the app can be removed by the user, it became obvious that anyone intending to commit fraud would simply delete it. They also did not anticipate such strong pushback, similar to the criticism they faced with the AI advisory in March 2024,” said this person.
This person added that DoT officials informally checked with legal firms about whether the directive would stand up constitutionally, and were told it would not.
A second DoT official said there was no pressure from the industry. “Many mobile handset manufacturer brands have welcomed the move and are proactively working to implement the mandate. India’s digital future depends on partnerships where government, industry, and citizens unite against common threats like cyber fraud,” said this official.
An industry executive aware of the workings within Apple said that the uproar in the Parliament in the ongoing winter session and public outrage caused the mandate to be recalled.
The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were still waiting for a formal recall of the directive.
Demanding withdrawal of the mandate, the Opposition Congress on Wednesday accused the government of trying to create a surveillance state. “Safety is an excuse, the target is privacy,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
Calling the move a deliberate attempt at surveillance, he argued it would give authorities access to citizens’ data. “A copy of everything, two spies will get it from you. What Pegasus was to the VIPs of this country, Sanchar Saathi is to the common man.”
In a statement, digital rights advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation called it “a welcome development,” but added that the full text of the legal order, along with any revised directions under the Cyber Security Rules, 2024, is still awaited.
“For now, we should treat this as cautious optimism, not closure, until the formal legal direction is published and independently confirmed,” said the statement.
The government maintains that 14 million users have downloaded the app, contributing information on around 2,000 fraud incidents daily. It added that user numbers are rising quickly, and the mandate was intended to speed up this adoption and make the app easily accessible to citizens who may be less aware.
