The Indian government will effectively ban Chinese video surveillance giants, including Hikvision, Dahua, and TP-Link, from selling internet-connected CCTV cameras in the country.
This decisive market restriction stems from new mandatory certification rules driven by national security concerns regarding foreign hardware.
New Mandatory STQC Certification Rules
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has implemented strict Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) requirements for all internet-connected surveillance equipment.
These rules, rooted in Essential Requirements (ER) norms first notified in April 2024, set baseline cybersecurity standards aligned with the IS 13252-1 framework to mitigate foreign espionage risks.
Under the guidelines, manufacturers must explicitly disclose the country of origin for critical System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures.
The government is actively denying certification to any products utilizing Chinese-origin chipsets to prevent unauthorized remote access vulnerabilities.
Vendors must also pass rigorous laboratory testing, ensuring secure TLS/HTTPS communication and uniform patch management; without this security clearance, their hardware is completely barred from being imported or sold in the Indian market.
The Indian government originally introduced these certification norms in March and April 2024 and provided a two-year transition window for manufacturers to comply.
The MeitY Office Memorandum dated January 16, 2026, made it unambiguous that the grace period has conclusively ended no extensions will be granted. As of late 2025, more than 500 CCTV models had already been certified under the new regime.
According to the Economic Times, the sweeping regulatory overhaul has fundamentally reshaped the Indian video surveillance landscape, heavily favoring the domestic “Make in India” initiative while forcing out entrenched Chinese brands that previously commanded a third of total national sales.
Domestic manufacturers such as CP Plus, Qubo, Prama, Matrix, and Sparsh have completely restructured their hardware supply chains to ensure strict compliance, abandoning prohibited Chinese components in favor of secure Taiwanese chipsets and heavily localized proprietary firmware.
As a result, Indian brands have aggressively captured over 80% of the total market share as of early 2026, according to Counterpoint Research, relegating established multinational corporations like Bosch and Honeywell to specialized premium enterprise segments.
The transition away from highly subsidized Chinese surveillance hardware has introduced notable economic ramifications, a 15% to 20% price increase across mid-range and high-end camera segments, as manufacturers absorb the costs of alternative components and rigorous compliance testing.
India’s crackdown on Chinese surveillance equipment is consistent with a global pattern of restrictions on Hikvision and Dahua, both of which have been flagged by multiple countries for potential ties to the Chinese government and state-sponsored surveillance programs.
The STQC mandate specifically targets vulnerabilities endemic to Chinese-origin IP cameras, including exposed debug ports such as UART and Telnet interfaces, insecure firmware update mechanisms, and unencrypted data transmission channels.
The broader regulatory framework also encompasses government procurement restrictions. Indian government departments have been formally prohibited from purchasing CCTV equipment that does not meet the new Essential Requirements.
An advisory was additionally issued to all Ministries to undertake comprehensive audits of existing CCTV networks for supply chain vulnerabilities.
Cybersecurity professionals and domestic industry leaders have widely praised the government’s initiative, viewing the stringent hardware mandates as a critical, overdue victory for national data sovereignty and physical infrastructure security.
India’s $3.5 billion video surveillance market is projected to benefit substantially from the localization push, with certified domestic players positioned to capture large-scale government and smart city deployments.
However, skeptics have voiced concerns regarding the long-term operational reliability of rapidly scaled domestic alternatives, while Chinese stakeholders and international observers have criticized the regulatory shift as trade protectionism disguised as a security measure.
Meanwhile, with over 80% of surveillance products previously relying on Chinese components and cloud infrastructure, MSMEs dependent on that supply chain are bracing for significant disruption as the April 1 deadline arrives.
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The post India to Ban Hikvision, TP-Link, and CCTV Product Sales Starting April appeared first on Cyber Security News.
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