India-made BharOS to take on Android, iOS

NEW DELHI: An Indian company with mentorship from IIT-Madras has come out with an indigenous mobile operating system — BharOS (short for Bharat OS) — that is poised to take on Google Android and Apple iOS with a more secure system.

The OS, launched by communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, aims to enable private enterprises and companies to set up customised operating systems according to their needs. The move comes at a timewhen Google faces legal challenges in India over abuse of dominance and unfair practices in relation to its Android operating system. BharOS was developed by JandK Operations (JandKops), which hasa 30-member team and has been incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. “Tested Indian ‘Operating System’ — BharOS developed at IIT-Madras. A leap forward in PM Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey,” Vaishnaw said in a tweet.