India seeks to adopt China-style facial recognition in policing

Faces of employees are displayed on a facial recognition identity system at the headquarters of security system developer Staqu Technologies Pvt in India. — Bloomberg

India is planning to set up one of the world’s largest facial recognition systems, potentially a lucrative opportunity for surveillance companies and a nightmare for privacy advocates who fear it will lead to a Chinese-style Orwellian state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will open bids next month to build a system to centralise facial recognition data captured through surveillance cameras across India. It would link up with databases containing records for everything from passports to fingerprints to help India’s depleted police force identify criminals, missing persons and dead bodies.