India, Dec. 3 -- Days after proposing to mandate the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all mobile handsets imported or manufactured in India, the Ministry of Communications has withdrawn the requirement, citing the app's rapidly growing acceptance among users.

In an official statement, the Ministry said the initial mandate was introduced with the intent of ensuring universal access to cybersecurity tools. "With an intent to provide access to cyber security to all citizens, the government had mandated pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones," the Ministry noted. It added that, given the app's accelerating adoption, making pre-installation compulsory for mobile manufacturers was no longer necessary.

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