India Drops Proposal to Require Aadhaar Biometric App Preinstallation on Smartphones After Industry Pushback – Obnews

India has decided not to proceed with a proposal that would have required smartphone manufacturers to preinstall the government’s Aadhaar biometric identification application on their devices. The move follows concerns raised by major technology companies including Apple and Samsung about security, compatibility, and production challenges, according to reporting by Reuters and PYMNTS.

The Unique Identification Authority of India, which manages the Aadhaar system, had earlier asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to encourage smartphone makers to include the app by default on devices sold in the country. Aadhaar serves as a 12 digit biometric identity linked to fingerprints and iris scans and is used by nearly 1.34 billion residents for services ranging from banking verification to telecom access and faster airport processing.

However, the IT ministry said it did not support making preinstallation mandatory after consulting stakeholders from across the electronics manufacturing sector. According to Reuters, the consultations highlighted concerns from device makers about the complexity of introducing country specific hardware or software configurations and the possible impact on device security frameworks.

Industry representatives also warned that producing separate smartphone versions tailored only for the Indian market could increase manufacturing costs and create operational challenges. These concerns played a significant role in the government’s decision to withdraw the proposal and maintain flexibility for manufacturers operating in the country’s large mobile device ecosystem.

The development comes as India continues expanding the use of biometric authentication across digital services. Reports last year indicated that biometric verification through facial recognition and fingerprint scanning would be integrated into the Unified Payments Interface network using Aadhaar linked data. Research cited by PYMNTS also shows strong global adoption trends for biometric payments, including in markets such as the United Arab Emirates, where consumers increasingly prefer secure and convenient identity verification methods for digital transactions.