The move follows the enforcement of the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) rules by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Under these norms, every connected camera must undergo rigorous vulnerability testing, and manufacturers must explicitly declare the country of origin for critical components like the System-on-Chip (SoC).

According to industry reports, the government is refusing to certify products manufactured by these firms or any devices utilizing Chinese-made chipsets, effectively shutting them out of the world’s fastest-growing surveillance market.Key Impacts of the Regulation:Market Dominance Shift: Chinese brands, which held nearly one-third of the market just a year ago, have seen their share plummet. Indian domestic brands like CP Plus, Qubo (Hero Group), Prama, Matrix, and Sparsh now control over 80% of the market as of February 2026.Supply Chain Realignment: To secure certification, Indian companies have shifted their supply chains away from China, primarily adopting Taiwanese chipsets and localized, secure firmware.Price Hikes: Moving away from low-cost Chinese components is expected to increase the Bill of Materials (BoM) by 15–20%.

Consumers may see the price of a basic 4MP camera rise from ₹2,500 to approximately ₹3,000.The "Slow Death" of Analog: Brands like Dahua have seen their business contract by 80%, now limited to selling older analog cameras that do not fall under the "internet-connected" ban but are rapidly becoming obsolete.Tech Exit: Popular smartphone brands like Xiaomi and Realme have reportedly exited the smart home camera segment in India entirely, finding the new compliance hurdles too complex to navigate.