India suggests that smartphone manufacturers should provide the government with source code and implement various software modifications as part of a series of security initiatives, leading to covert resistance from major companies such as Apple and Samsung.

Tech firms have argued that the set of 83 security standards, which would mandate notifying the government about significant software updates, has no global equivalent and may expose confidential information, based on insights from four sources knowledgeable about the talks and a Reuters analysis of classified government and industry records.

The initiative is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strategy to enhance user data security as online scams and data leaks rise in the world's second-largest smartphone market, which has close to 750 million devices.

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IT Secretary S. Krishnan informed Reuters that any genuine concerns of the industry will be considered with an open mind," and noted that it was "too early to interpret it further.

According to reports, it could not provide additional comments because of ongoing discussions with technology firms regarding the proposals.

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Demands from the Indian government have annoyed tech companies previously. Last month, it canceled a directive requiring a government-controlled cyber safety application on devices due to worries about monitoring. However, the government dismissed lobbying last year and mandated strict testing for security cameras due to concerns about Chinese espionage.

Counterpoint Research estimates that Xiaomi and Samsung, which utilize Google's Android operating system for their phones, have market shares of 19 and 15 percent, respectively, while Apple holds 5 percen in India.

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One of the most critical demands in the new Indian Telecom Security Assurance Requirements is access to source code - the fundamental programming directives that enable phones to function. The documents indicate that this could be examined and potentially evaluated at specified Indian laboratories.

The Indian proposals demand that companies modify software to enable the uninstallation of pre-installed apps and to prevent apps from accessing cameras and microphones in the background to "prevent malicious usage.