Global surveillance camera manufacturers are at odds with Indian regulators over new rules requiring hardware, software, and source code to be tested in government labs.
Effective April 9, the policy requires all internet-connected cameras, including those from major brands like Hikvision, Dahua, Hanwha, Motorola Solutions, and CP Plus, to undergo and pass evaluations before being sold in India. The government maintains that the measures are essential for safeguarding national security and preventing potential surveillance threats.
At an April 3 meeting, executives from 17 companies, including Hanwha, Xiaomi, and Motorola, urged the government to postpone implementation of the new rules, citing insufficient lab capacity to meet the certification requirements.
Camera makers have also cited prolonged factory inspections, and intense government scrutiny of sensitive source code as major factors delaying approvals.
“Millions of dollars will be lost from the industry, sending tremors through the market,” Ajay Dubey, Hanwha’s director for South Asia, wrote in an email to India’s IT ministry on April 9.
“There’s always an espionage risk,” Gulshan Rai, India’s former cybersecurity chief told Reuters. “Anyone can operate and control internet-connected CCTV cameras sitting in an adverse location. They need to be robust and secure.”
Chinese companies appear to be facing additional challenges. In an April 24 email, Xiaomi stated that Indian labs had requested extra documentation from its China-based contract manufacturers, citing “internal guidelines” for firms from countries that share land borders with India. In response, China’s foreign ministry urged India to provide a “non-discriminatory environment” for Chinese businesses.
Responding to pushback from manufacturers, government officials said the regulations are necessary for security and will remain in effect without delay.
India’s Standardization Testing and Quality Certification Directorate, an agency under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, is responsible for evaluating surveillance equipment.
According to information previously available on its website, the agency operates 15 laboratories capable of handling 28 applications at the same time, with each application covering up to 10 device models.
As of May 28, official figures indicated that 342 applications, representing hundreds of surveillance models from multiple manufacturers, were awaiting approval. Among these, 237 were categorized as new submissions, with 142 filed after the April 9 compliance deadline. Of all the applications, only 35 had completed testing, and just one of those was submitted by a foreign company.
