Registration of IMEI number for phones meant for exports not mandatory for now, says DoT

Mobile phone manufacturers will not need to register the IMEIs of units being manufactured in the country for export for now.

The industry had requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to remove the requirement of registering the IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, of mobile phones meant for exports, the department said in a notification on its website issued on Friday.

IMEI is a unique 15-digit code assigned to every mobile phone to identify the specific device on a mobile network.

"The requirement of registration of IMEIs of mobile phones being manufactured in the country for export is kept in abeyance till further orders," DoT said.

The department had in a notification on October 27 mandated that a manufacturer should register the IMEI number of every mobile phone manufactured in the country.

In the same circular, it had also said this is part of the development work for updation of the Indian Counterfeited Device Restriction portal to cater the requirement of locally manufactured mobile phone IMEI registration, currently under progress.