India’s government has stepped back from a proposal that would have required smartphone manufacturers including Apple and Samsung to pre-install the country’s biometric identification application Aadhaar on their devices, following significant opposition from the industry. The Unique Identification Authority of India, the state body that operates the Aadhaar system, confirmed in a statement that the IT ministry had reviewed the proposal and concluded it is not in favour of mandating the pre-installation of the Aadhaar app on smartphones, though no official reason was provided for the decision. The IT ministry held a consultation with stakeholders from the electronics industry before arriving at its position.
Aadhaar is a 12-digit identity number tied to an individual’s fingerprints and iris scans and is held by nearly 1.34 billion residents across the country. It is widely used for verification purposes in banking and telecom services, as well as for streamlined airport entry. The Unique Identification Authority of India had reportedly approached the IT ministry in January requesting engagement with Apple, Google, and other leading smartphone makers to consider mandatory pre-installation of the application. According to documents reviewed by Reuters, smartphone manufacturers flagged concerns about device security and compatibility upon receiving the proposal, and also raised the issue of higher production costs, as they would have been required to operate separate manufacturing lines for the Indian market and export markets. Apple and Samsung, in particular, had concerns related to safety and security.
The rollback marks the sixth consecutive failure of such a request in two years. Industry communications reviewed by Reuters indicate that the government had sought pre-installation of state applications on phones on six separate occasions over that period, with all six attempts having been opposed by the industry. A senior Indian official stated, on condition of anonymity, that the IT ministry is not supportive of any pre-loading of applications unless it is considered very essential. The development points to the practical limits facing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s broader digital agenda as India simultaneously courts technology manufacturers, particularly Apple, to expand the country’s role as a global smartphone production hub.
Digital rights advocates welcomed the decision, though some called for broader restraint. Apar Gupta, founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a New Delhi-based digital advocacy group, said other such proposals should also be shelved as they lack a legislative foundation and have no clear public policy goal. While the government has maintained that Aadhaar is safe and secure, the application has faced persistent criticism from privacy advocates, including over incidents where personal details of millions of holders surfaced on the dark web. The decision is being seen as a moment of regulatory restraint that acknowledges the limits of state reach into the personal devices of citizens.
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