A non-removable government app may hinder a person’s right to choose, may 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) under the ministry of communications issued a notification to 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.
To be sure, 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.
“The notification clearly states that Sanchar Saathi must be preinstalled in all mobile phones in order to make it easier for the Centre to track nefarious activities,” the first of the two executives said.
“Their idea is that if a smartphone’s IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) number is blacklisted on Sanchar Saathi, having the latter preinstalled on all phones will immediately block those numbers and narrow the window of devices that scammers can use,” this executive added.
Phone brands and industry bodies alike are set to push back against the notification.
A person close to developments at Apple said that the company “may file representations to the ministry, since Apple has never had a history of giving in to side-loading and pre-loading government-backed applications that may lead to surveillance“.
Executives close to Google and Samsung, too, said they were actively evaluating the order. “It seems like a bit of an odd incident, because such broad rules typically go through a round of industry consultation to address key questions. There were no consultations held with us on this note,” one of the executives said.
Questions sent to Apple, Google, Samsung and Xiaomi remained unanswered till press time.
What experts say
“Mandating non-deletable installation appears disproportionate and ineffective,” said Sumeysh Srivastava, partner at policy consulting firm The Quantum Hub. “The app can’t automatically scan IMEI numbers without user input, and even if it could, anyone looking to commit fraud could simply use older devices or root their phones to remove the app.”
Srivastava added that beyond limited utility, there are legitimate privacy concerns about a mandatory government app with access to call logs, SMS messages, and cameras on every citizen’s personal device.
He pointed to the fact that the app is growing organically with over 100 million downloads already. “Further awareness efforts may help adoption, but ultimately usage should depend on whether citizens see value in it. Compulsory installation is neither proportionate nor justified,” Srivastava said.
Tarun Pathak, director of research for mobile phones at Counterpoint India, said having the app preinstalled may stretch things too far, pointing to internal policies of companies like Apple that prohibit any preinstalled apps from third parties, including governments.
“There should be a middle ground after a consultation round, where users may see some kind of preference notification to push the app—but ultimately, users will retain their choice,” Pathak said. “Not letting the app be deleted is a step in a backward direction, given that our recent data privacy rules suggest the opposite.”
What the notification said
The notification itself read, “From 90 days of issue of these instructions, ensure that the Sanchar Saathi mobile application, as specified by DoT, is pre-installed on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India.”
Brands must further “ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end-users at the time of first use or device setup, and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted. For all such devices that have already been manufactured and are in sales channels in India, the manufacturer and importers of mobile handsets shall make an endeavour to push the App through software updates.”