Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has refuted reports that smartphone companies are giving an option to remove pre-installed apps. He said 'this story is completely wrong'. On Tuesday, news agency Reuters had said that mobile makers will have to provide an option to un-install the pre-installed app. Along with this, screening of major updates will be done in the operating system.
Chandrasekhar said, 'The story is based on a lack of understanding. This is probably a creative imagination based on the ongoing consultation process between the ministry and industry on BIS Standard IS17737 (Part-3) 2021 Mobile Security Guidelines. The government is 100% committed to Ease of Doing Business and is focusing on taking electronics manufacturing to $300 billion.
It was said in the Reuters report that companies like Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo and Apple will be affected by this decision of the government. Smartphones of these companies have pre-installed apps, which users cannot uninstall from their phones. Earlier, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had fined Google. After this, Google announced several changes in its Android operating system and Google Play-Store billing.
According to Reuters, the IT Ministry is concerned about the espionage and misuse of user data. A senior official told on the condition of anonymity that at present the government is considering the rules. Pre-installed apps can be weak security points. We do not want any foreign power including China to take advantage of this. This is a matter of national security.