National Current Affairs
Sanchar Saathi App
- 03 Dec 2025
- 3 min read
Why in News?
The Department of Telecommunications has directed all mobile manufacturers and importers to ensure the Sanchar Saathi mobile application is pre-installed and easily accessible on all devices sold in India.
- This directive follows a sharp rise in cyber incidents reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, from 15.92 lakh in 2023 to 20.41 lakh in 2024, including 1.23 lakh digital-arrest scams.
Key Points
- Launch: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) launched the Sanchar Saathi mobile application to protect citizens from identity theft, forged Know Your Customer (KYC) fraud, device theft, and financial cybercrimes.
- Privacy-First Design: The application functions only with user consent, allows activation or deletion anytime, and adheres to the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, ensuring minimal data collection and zero commercial profiling.
- National Telecom Regulations: The initiative reinforces enforcement of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) rules, particularly the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), by enabling easy reporting of spam, scams, and unsolicited commercial communication.
- Citizen-Centric Services: Key features include Chakshu for reporting fraud calls/SMS/WhatsApp messages; IMEI tracking and blocking for stolen devices; verification of mobile connections; genuineness checks for mobile handsets; reporting of international calls spoofed as Indian (+91) numbers; and the Know Your Internet Service Provider lookup tool.
- Significance: Available in Hindi and 21 Indian regional languages on both Android and iOS, it empowers citizen participation (Jan Bhagidari), ensures transparency through public dashboards, and builds nationwide digital trust for safer telecom usage.
- Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI): The Department of Telecommunications developed the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator, which classifies mobile numbers into Medium, High, or Very High fraud-risk categories, helping banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service providers prevent losses, already averting ₹475 crore in potential financial fraud.
