Communications Minister has assured that the Sanchar Saathi app involves no snooping or call monitoring, and its activation is entirely at the user’s discretion.
Allaying concerns that the Sanchar Saathi app could be used to surveil citizens and compromise privacy, Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia described the 19‑month‑old platform as voluntary, transparent, and designed solely to protect India’s mobile consumers while strengthening national cybersecurity.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Parliament’s 2025 Winter Session, Scindia said, “It is a step towards jan bhagidari (citizen involvement). Rather than opposing it, it must be welcomed. When you buy a mobile phone and use it, the platform helps establish the legitimacy and genuineness of the IMEI number.”
Sanchar Saathi allows users to report suspected fraud directly from call logs, enabling informed citizens to protect less‑aware users. Manufacturers have raised concerns after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directed that the app be pre‑installed on devices to counter digital scams. Industry pushback argues that only the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) should issue such directives.
The government’s order provides 90 days for implementation and 120 days to submit compliance reports.
Defending the move, Scindia said, “At a time when every citizen is getting connected through telecommunications, there are those willing to misuse these services to commit fraud, embezzle money, or steal handsets. For their protection, through people’s participation, we have issued the Sanchar Saathi directive.”
The directive has been issued under the Telecommunication Act, 2023, and the Telecom Cyber Security Rules, 2024, embedding consumer safety into the handset ecosystem. To date, the Sanchar Saathi portal has been accessed 200 million times, while the app has been downloaded 15 million times.
So far, 17.5 million fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected; about 2 million stolen handsets have been traced, with 750,000 returned; and around 2.1 million numbers have been disconnected based on citizen reporting.
Scindia added, “There is no snooping or call monitoring. It is entirely up to you to activate or deactivate it, to keep it on your phone or delete it.”
He emphasised that consumer protection is the government’s priority, with Sanchar Saathi designed to empower users against fraud. According to data tabled in the Rajya Sabha on March 18, 2025, Indians lost ₹42.45 billion to digital financial fraud in the first ten months of FY2024‑25.
– Manish Pant