By Kavit Majithia
India’s IT and Electronics Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar dismissed a Reuters report claiming the country planned to force smartphone manufacturers to allow for the removal of pre-installed apps and face mandatory compliance testing, describing the story as plain wrong.
In a Twitter post, Chandrasekhar said Reuters’ story based on a leaked government document lacked understanding.
Chandrasekhar slated the article as demonstrating an “unfettered creative imagination” about an ongoing consultation process between the Ministry of Electronics and IT and the industry.
Reuters reported the government proposed laws targeting the removal of pre-installed apps on smartphones because it considered them a security weak-point and wanted to ensure nations including China could not exploit it.
Chandrasekhar argued there is no security testing or crackdown.
He added India is 100 per cent committed to promoting ease of business and “growing electronics manufacturing”, and argued the article contained “deliberate disinformation” to negatively impact the sector.
India’s government this month set a target to manufacture $300 billion-worth of electronics goods by 2026 as part of its digital ambitions.
Sources had told Reuters plans for new devices to be checked by a government-run laboratory to ensure they complied with the proposed new rules would be a blow to manufacturers, leading to longer launch cycles and a loss in revenue from built-in apps.
