On May 5, 2026, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued Announcement S.O. 2204(E) in the Government Gazette of India, amending the 2021 Electronic Information Technology Products (Requirement for Compulsory Registration) Order (CRO). This revision explicitly incorporates standalone hard disk drives (HDDs) into the mandatory registration framework managed by the Bureau of Standards of India (BIS). The external hard drive with the original USB interface remains within the current BIS regulatory framework. The revised regulatory requirements for standalone hard disk drives (HDDs) will take effect on November 5, 2026.
Click this link to view the original MeitY announcement.