Govt mulls ban on non-branded mobile phones

 Communications & IT Minister A Raja is understood to have asked the Department of Information & Technology, under his own charge, to work out and consider restrictions on such imported mobile phones.

In a letter to the IT Secretary, he said “the policy measures, which we take should promote the growth of manufacturing of both mobile phones and its parts and components and not merely promote rebranding and redistribution.” The proposed move could hit the home grown mobile brands such as Spice, Micromax and Oscar, who import handsets from abroad and rebrand them here. Raja said such non-branded handsets of sub-standard quality pose a serious threat to the consumer.