IIT-Madras incubated JandK Operations Pvt. Ltd, developed BharOS, India’s first indigenous smartphone operating system, and they are in discussions with government organizations and private sector enterprises that require robust privacy and security infrastructure.
“There is a lot of interest not only from government sectors but even from private sector organizations. We are moving towards working with them,” Prof V Kamakoti, director of IIT Madras, said in an interview.
On Tuesday, the Minister for Telecommunications and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and the Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, successfully tested BharOS. BharOS is an indigenous operating system developed by JandK Operations Pvt. Ltd. JandK was incubated at IIT Madras’ non-profit establishment Pravartak Technologies Foundation. This foundation is funded by the central government. This successful test of BharOS is a significant step towards “Atmanirbhar Bharat” or self-reliant India.
The government aims to localize manufacturing, supply chains, applications, and establish robust infrastructure for key industries such as electronics and semiconductors. Additionally, the government is placing a strong emphasis on data security and privacy and offering production-linked incentives for made-in-India hardware. This move towards BharOS is part of the government’s overall strategy to reduce dependency on foreign technology and build a strong technology ecosystem within the country.
BharOS is an alternative to the widely used mobile operating systems such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. In fact, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had imposed a fine of ₹1,337 crores on Google, for allegedly exploiting its dominant position in the market with a 95% share, and asked the company to remove all restrictions on device makers for loading apps outside the Google Play store.
The search giant is currently working with the CCI to change the way it markets the app store. This move towards BharOS is also a step towards creating a more competitive environment in the mobile OS market in India.
Prof V Kamakoti said in an interview:
“As a country we are looking for an Indian mobile operating system which is secure. This essentially means it executes only authorised software on it. Even if there’s a small change to the authorised software, the system should not execute it. Through such high assurances we can control malware and other privacy- and security-compromising actions. Both IIT-Madras and IIT-Madras- incubated firms are working on it for quite some time.”
“Interested companies can install the BharOS on devices given to their employees. We will provide the organizations access to a private app store, and it can then have control on all apps that are uploaded on the store. Only apps from that store will work on phones and others will not. BharOS can be installed on any commercial phone, provided the vendor gives us the development manuals and some features. This is not just porting an operating system, but is about porting a complete secure stack on a handset.”
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