The central government has withdrawn its controversial directive that required all smartphones sold in India to come with the Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app pre-installed.
The move follows strong resistance from political parties and reports that leading manufacturers — including Apple — were preparing for legal action against the mandate.
According to the government, the decision was made because Sanchar Saathi has already gained wide public acceptance, making forced installation unnecessary.
Earlier, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia defended the policy by stating that users would always retain the option to remove the app. He clarified that the mandate was introduced purely to enhance cyber safety.
“If users don’t want the app, they can delete it. If they want to keep it, they can. Phones already come with many pre-installed apps. On Android, for example, you can disable Google Maps but not delete it — whereas on iPhones you can remove it completely,” Scindia explained.
With the mandate now scrapped, smartphone makers are free from the requirement, and consumers can continue choosing whether or not to install Sanchar Saathi.
