India’s government has ignited nationwide backlash after quietly ordering private companies to preinstall a controversial government app on every smartphone sold or imported into the country, allowing bureaucrats to track members of the public night and day.
Critics are now sounding the alarm over the mandate, warning it’s a major step toward mass digital surveillance.
The order, sent out last week, gave companies 90 days to ensure the government app Sanchar Saathi was “preinstalled on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India.”
Officials claimed the requirement was designed “to identify and report acts that may endanger telecom cybersecurity.”
On Tuesday, the government shifted its justification, saying the app is supposedly meant to curb crime, including phone theft, smuggling, and rampant call-center fraud inside India and abroad.
However, the government encountered a major problem when the public refused to believe the pitch.
“Sanchar Saathi is a snooping app”
The moment Reuters exposed the order, the uproar exploded online, especially among critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increasingly tech-authoritarian government.
Congress Party leader Priyanka Gandhi sounded the alarm immediately:
“Sanchar Saathi is a snooping app…
“There’s a very fine line between reporting fraud and seeing what every citizen of India is doing on their phone.”
The app can track phones in real time, and Gandhi, along with a growing list of opposition leaders, warned it could easily become a tool for mass surveillance under the guise of “cybersecurity.”
Government Backpedals, But Critics Aren’t Buying It
By mid-day Tuesday, Modi officials suddenly tried to reverse course.
Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia insisted the app was always optional:
“This app exists to protect them from fraud and theft…
“If you don’t wish to register, you shouldn’t register and can remove it at any time.”
But digital policy experts immediately called foul, noting the original order explicitly required the app to be installed at the operating-system level and prohibited manufacturers from disabling its core functions.
“Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi — everyone was supposed to ship phones with the app fully functional, no exceptions,” said New Delhi analyst Nikhil Pahwa.
He warned that installed at the OS layer, the app could theoretically access messages, audio, images, and more, with no meaningful legal restrictions because the government exempted itself from India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act in 2023.
“The government is putting its own lock inside your house”
Privacy experts issued chilling warnings.
Apar Gupta of the Internet Freedom Foundation explained:
“When the government forces a special app, with special powers, onto every new phone, it is effectively putting its own lock inside your house.”
He added:
“You lock your front door because you are entitled to safety and privacy…
“Asking for safeguards and limits is about making sure state power is accountable.”
A Russia-like Pattern Emerging
India isn’t acting in isolation, however.
Russia recently forced citizens’ phones to preload a state-controlled messaging app under the same justification of combating “fraud.”
Cybersecurity researchers say this tactic creates a single point of failure, a digital doorway that hackers, intelligence services, or corrupt officials can exploit.
Experts say India is walking the same path.
Pahwa warned: “Apps for cybersecurity can also become apps for cybervulnerability.”
India’s Privacy Scandals Keep Growing
This latest controversy isn’t happening in a vacuum:
India was previously exposed for purchasing access to Pegasus, the infamous Israeli spyware used to infiltrate phones of journalists, opposition politicians, activists, and even members of Modi’s own party.
A leaked list of Pegasus targets included Congress politicians, human-rights activists, Tibetan leaders, and journalists.
A Supreme Court-appointed committee trying to investigate Pegasus was shut down because “the government of India has not cooperated.”
Given that track record, critics say the government’s sudden insistence that Sanchar Saathi is “optional” rings hollow.
A Billion Phones. One Government App. Zero Safeguards.
India has more than one billion active phones, and cybercrime is rising fast, recording over 2.3 million “cybersecurity incidents” last year alone.
But experts argue the solution is transparency and targeted enforcement, not embedding a government-controlled access point on every device.
With the Modi government aggressively centralizing personal data across systems, analysts warn that this newest mandate, even if walked back publicly, reveals the government’s direction:
More monitoring. More control. Less privacy.
And with the government giving itself legal immunity from its own data protection laws, critics say the real danger is not fraudsters, it’s the state.
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