The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced that, starting November 28, all mobile phone makers and importers supplying devices to the Indian market must ensure the government’s cybersecurity app Sanchar Saathi is pre-installed on their handsets.
The department said manufacturers will be given 90 days to implement the requirement, followed by another 30 days to submit a compliance report.
The ministry explained that the order is intended to prevent consumers from unknowingly buying counterfeit devices, to make it easier for users to report suspected misuse of telecom services, and to strengthen the overall functioning of the Sanchar Saathi platform.
Companies including Apple, which has earlier raised objections to a government-backed anti-spam application, as well as other major smartphone brands such as Samsung, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi, are expected to be affected by the directive, TNIE reported.
Under the new rules, the DoT has asked mobile phone companies to 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 manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets will be required to push the app through software updates.
The Sanchar Saathi programme, developed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), is described by the government as a tool to tackle cybercrime and telecom security risks by enabling users to check the authenticity of their phones using the IMEI number.
The Centre has said the app allows citizens to report suspected fraud, locate or block lost or stolen phones, view the mobile connections registered in their name, and access verified contact details of financial institutions. Official data indicates that since its launch in January, the platform has helped trace over 700,000 missing handsets, including around 50,000 in October alone.
In its statement on Monday, the DoT said the Telecom Cyber Security (TCS) Rules give the Central Government the authority to instruct telecom equipment makers that use IMEI numbers to extend necessary support in cases involving tampered devices or altered IMEIs. It added that the rules also require manufacturers and importers to comply with any directions issued to enforce these provisions.
The government said the latest order is aimed at addressing the growing problem of duplicated or manipulated IMEI numbers, which it said weaken telecom security by allowing a single identifier to operate on multiple devices at the same time.
According to the ministry, this kind of tampering makes monitoring and enforcement more difficult and encourages the circulation of stolen or blocked phones in India’s large resale market, exposing buyers to financial risk.
The department further noted that the widespread trade in second-hand devices has seen instances of stolen or blacklisted phones being resold, and warned that buyers could unknowingly become accomplices to crime and suffer losses. It added that users can verify whether an IMEI is blocked or blacklisted through the Sanchar Saathi app.