To combat fraud, the Narendra Modi government made police verification of SIM sellers mandatory on Thursday, as well as the suspension of bulk connections.
“Now, it will be mandatory for new dealers (of mobile SIM cards) to go through a police verification and biometric verification. Registration will also be compulsory for all point-of-sale dealers now”, Union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced in a briefing.
The minister went on to say that since the establishment of the Sanchar Saathi portal, the government has found and deleted 52 lakh fraudulently obtained connections. In addition, the authorities blacklisted 67,000 mobile SIM card dealers. Since May 2023, FIRs have been lodged against 300 SIM card vendors, according to him.