Grest Partners with C-DOT for Sanchar Saathi to Combat Device Fraud in India

Grest, a refurbished electronics platform, has partnered with C-DOT for the Sanchar Saathi initiative. This integration allows real-time verification of device authenticity against a government IMEI database. Grest is the first private company to go live on this system. This move aims to combat device theft and fraud in India.

Refurbished electronics platform Grest has partnered with C-DOT (Centre for Development of Telematics, Ministry of Communications) to integrate with the IMEI Verification System (IVS) as part of the government’s Sanchar Saathi initiative.

Grest has become the first private-sector player to go live on the platform, which enables real-time verification of device authenticity against a central government IMEI database. C-DOT has issued a formal certificate of recognition to Grest, dated June 3, 2026, acknowledging the integration.

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The move comes against the backdrop of a significant and growing device theft and fraud problem in India. According to Government estimates approximately 50,000 mobile phones are stolen every month in the country. The Press Information Bureau reported that, the Sanchar Saathi portal, since its launch, has blocked over 42 Lakh devices and authorities have separately blocked over 6.2 Lakh IMEIs linked to cyber fraud.

The Ministry of Communications has flagged that stolen and blacklisted handsets are routinely resold in the secondary market, creating legal and financial risk for buyers. It is this specific vulnerability, where a fraudulent device changes hands through an organized platform, that the IVS integration is designed to address.

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The refurbished electronics market in India has grown rapidly in scale but has remained operationally complex and perception-sensitive. Companies in the space are required to solve not just for supply and pricing, but for standardization and consumer confidence.

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Device authenticity has been among the hardest problems to crack credibly, given the absence of a verifiable, centralized source of truth. The IVS integration gives Grest access to precisely that, a government-maintained IMEI database against which every device on its platform can now be checked before a transaction is completed.

“ India's refurbished electronics sector is large, fast-growing, and operationally complex, but it has been held back by a persistent trust gap. Our integration with the IVS platform under Sanchar Saathi addresses that gap at its root, providing consumers and trade partners with a government-backed layer of device verification they can rely on,” said Shrey Sardana, Co-founder & CEO, Grest.