India goes shopping for new spyware system that rivals Pegasus: FT report

The Centre is looking to acquire a new spyware system with a lower profile than the controversial Pegasus and has set aside a budget of up to $120 million for the new contracts, Financial Times has reported.

According to FT, officials are on the lookout for a “less exposed” spyware system than Pegasus, which is developed by Israel’s NSO Group and was at the centre of a controversy last year after reports suggested that some politicians, human rights activists and journalists were on the list of its potential targets.

The Government had responded to these reports calling them “sensational”, and seeming to be an attempt “to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”. The Ministry of Defence also said it did not have any transaction with Israel-based NSO Group.