IT ministry working with industry to implement mobile security guidelines: ICEA

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Wednesday said the IT Ministry is working closely with the industry to implement mobile security guidelines in line with the new Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

The statement from ICEA, which is apex industry body for the mobile and electronics industry, came after a media report said that the government is planning security testing for smartphones and crackdown on pre-installed applications on mobile devices -- a claim vehemently denied by Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA, said that MeitY is working very closely and in a deep consultative mode with ICEA and industry to implement mobile security guidelines as per the already issued BIS Standard IS17737 (Part-3) 2021.

"MeitY has been holding active consultations with the industry to roll out guidelines for device manufacturers to adopt this standard. BIS also has to come up with the testing procedure and the required infrastructure of labs and certification of these labs which are capable of testing the devices as per the BIS standard," Mohindroo informed.

Industry and MeitY have agreed that "we will have sufficient time for compliance for device manufacturer/brand owners till the required lab infrastructure is in place to the satisfaction of the industry so that it should not affect ease of doing business in any which way".

The government earlier said there are no plans for security testing for smartphones or crackdown on pre-installed applications, as the sole emphasis is on ease of doing business and boost local electronics manufacturing.

"@GoI_MeitY is 100 per cent committed to 'Ease of Doing Business' and is totally focused on growing electronics manufacturing to touch $300 billion by 2026," Mohindroo said in a tweet.

Electronics manufacturing in the country is likely to cross Rs 1.28 lakh crore in the next financial year, according to Chandrasekhar.

In the period from April-December 2022, mobile phone exports reached nearly $7-8 billion, and is expected to cross $9 billion for the fiscal year.

The government has set a target to achieve $300 billion of electronics manufacturing by 2025-26, out of which $75-100 billion of electronics manufacturing is expected from Uttar Pradesh alone, according to the ICEA.