Govt to ban Chinese CCTVs from April 1 as new certification rules take effect: Report

The Centre is all set to bar the selling of internet-connected CCTV cameras and other video-surveillance equipment manufactured by Chinese video surveillance companies from April 1, when a new certifying rule comes into force.

According to a report in the Economic Times, industry insiders have said that the government was categorically refusing to certify products manufactured by these companies and by those which are using Chinese chipsets. The step, they added, has effectively closed the market to the concerned Chinese companies.

Market share shifts

Till last year, Chinese products dominated the market by accounting for one-third of all CCTV camera sales in India. But now Indian brands such as CP Plus, Qubo, Prama, Matrix, and Sparsh, who now rely on Taiwanese chipsets and localised firmware, control the lion’s share of the market.

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As of February, domestic manufacturers account for more than 80 per cent of India’s CCTV camera market, with the remainder split among overseas firms, data from Counterpoint Research shows.

At the premium end, US-based names such as Bosch and Honeywell continue to hold ground.

New certification rules

The shift follows the rollout of essential requirements (ER) norms by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in April 2024. The rules gave manufacturers a two-year window to bring products in line with certification standards under the STQC (Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification) framework, to be cleared at designated labs.

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Under these norms, camera makers must disclose the origin of key components, including the System-on-Chip (SoC), and ensure devices are tested against vulnerabilities that could enable unauthorised remote access. All such checks must be carried out at accredited facilities.

So far, the government has cleared 507 CCTV camera models.

Chinese players squeezed out

In 2024, Chinese brands together accounted for roughly a third of sales, with Indian companies holding a similar share, according to Counterpoint Research. Multinational firms made up about 10 per cent, while smaller, unorganised traders covered the remaining 20 per cent.

That balance has since tilted. Chinese manufacturers have either reworked supply chains or stepped away from the market altogether.

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“A massive factory built to produce two million Hikvision cameras per month was denied certification because it manufactured Chinese products,” said Anup Nair, director of strategy and operations at Aditya Infotech, which owns the CP Plus brand, as quoted by the Economic Times.

He said the company in question, once the market leader through 2025, was forced into a joint venture with an Indian partner and had to move away from its China-linked supply chain to remain operational in the country. Hikvision declined to comment.

Dahua cuts production

Meanwhile, Dahua, earlier the second-largest player, has scaled back to selling analogue cameras, a category steadily losing relevance.

“We have let the brand die a slow death in India. Our business with Dahua has contracted by 80 per cent,” Nair said. Aditya Infotech has handled national distribution for the brand for 16 years.

In the reshaped market, CP Plus now leads with an estimated 45-50 per cent share, up from around 20–25% before the regulations came into effect, according to Nair.

Costs begin to rise

The move away from Chinese inputs has come at a cost. Analysts estimate that the bill of materials (BoM) for CCTV cameras has risen by 15 -20 per cent following the shift.

At the same time, supply constraints in key components such as memory and processors are adding further strain.

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“Prices have remained relatively stable in the lower end of the market as dominant players have been able to control costs by localising some of the components,” an industry executive said.

“But the mid and higher end of the market has seen a sharp rise in costs because the price differential between Chinese chipsets and non-Chinese counterparts from Taiwan and US is quite significant,” he added.