How to use the Saral Sanchar portal for WPC Equipment Type Approval, import licences and dealer permissions

Saral Sanchar stands for Simplified Application for Registration and Licenses. It is the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) web portal for applying for, tracking and managing telecom and wireless licences, registrations and clearances^[1]. For an importer of consumer electronics, it matters for one thing above all: the WPC Equipment Type Approval (ETA) that every Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other licence-exempt wireless product needs^[3].

The portal also handles WPC import licences, Dealer and Non-Dealer Possession Licences, experimental and demonstration licences and SACFA clearances^[1]. Most small importers will never touch those. If you sell earbuds, smartwatches, Wi-Fi cameras or licence-free walkie-talkies, the ETA module is the only part you need.

The address saralsanchar.gov.in now redirects to DoT's Telecom eServices page for Saral Sanchar^[2]. That page is where DoT posts notices, user manuals and helpdesk details, and it links to the login and sign-up pages.

One big change in 2026. DoT has stopped taking new applications under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for Unified Licences, standalone licences, registrations and permissions on Saral Sanchar and the National Single Window System. Those now go to a separate Authorisation Portal under the Telecommunications Act, 2023^[1]. Authorisations opened there from 25.06.2026, and Radio Equipment Possession Authorisation from 06.08.2026^[6]. The ETA itself is still listed as a Saral Sanchar service^[1].

Start by working out which permission your product needs. The table below covers the usual cases for importers. If your product has no radio at all, such as a plain USB cable, you need none of these.

Most consumer gadgets with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi do: DoT lists mobile handsets, laptops, smart watches, short-range devices and accessories, speakers, headphones, earphones, printers, scanners and cameras as self-declaration products^[3], and its ETA FAQ adds mouse, keyboard and TV as examples^[11].

The ETA form takes about as long as it takes to type the details. The slow part is collecting the paperwork. Get these ready first:

• The RF test report for the model. The self-declaration ETA needs an RF test report, a manufacturer's authorisation if you are the Indian representative, and technical literature^[3]. The report does not have to come from an Indian lab: your undertaking states that it was issued by an accredited laboratory, naming the lab and its country^[14].
• Equipment details: category, make and model, as they will appear on the certificate^[15].
• Company and contact details for registration, including an e-mail address and mobile number that can receive OTPs^[16].
• A way to pay through BharatKosh, the government receipts site, for the Rs 10,000 fee^[3].
• Someone who can sign the undertaking. In the self-declaration, the importer or authorised Indian representative confirms the product works only in licence-exempt bands within the gazetted limits, that the fee is paid and that the goods are exempt from import licensing under DGFT policy. It also accepts WPC sample checks and liability for a wrong declaration^[14].

Consultants report RF testing at roughly Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 per model, depending on the number of radio modules and bands^[17]. One consultancy quotes Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000 for its own help with the ETA filing^[18]. These are private quotes, not official rates. The filing is simple enough that many importers do it themselves.

DoT's official summary is: register, enter company details, enter the equipment category, make, model and RF test report details, upload documents, download and submit the undertaking, pay through BharatKosh, upload the signed undertaking with a mobile OTP and download the ETA from the dashboard^[15]. Here is the same route with the screens DoT's applicant manual describes.

Pay Rs 10,000 per product through BharatKosh (NTRP) under 'Equipment Type Approval (ETA)' to 077188 CCA PAO Headquarters, and type the product name in the 'Remark' column^[11].

The Saral Sanchar form sends you to BharatKosh at the payment step, after the undertaking is downloaded^[15]. Three habits avoid most payment trouble:

• One payment per product. The fee is charged for each product that has one or more inbuilt RF modules^[11]. Do not bundle models into one challan.
• Use the remark field. With several products in flight, the product name in the remark is how you and DoT match a receipt to an application^[11].
• Keep the receipt with the draft. The provisional application number from the saved draft and the BharatKosh receipt belong together^[16].

For a full budget beyond the government fee, see our WPC ETA cost page and the compliance cost estimator.

No. One ETA covers a product with one or more inbuilt RF modules, but you must upload the test reports of every RF module without alteration^[11].

The product can be a finished model or an RF module itself^[11]. Two rules decide whether you need your own ETA at all:

• Made in India with an approved module. If a product is manufactured in India and uses an RF module that already has an ETA, fitted without modification, no separate ETA is needed^[11].
• Made abroad. Products made outside India need an ETA for each product before import^[11].

So a smartwatch with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC is one application with three module reports, not three applications. An Indian assembler building a smart plug around an approved Wi-Fi module may need none, as long as the module is untouched.

Keep it with every shipment. Customs may accept the self-declaration from the importer or authorised Indian representative as enough evidence to clear licence-exempt wireless products^[3]. For products that are 'Free' under DGFT policy, the system-generated import undertaking from Saral Sanchar is enough, and no separate WPC import licence is needed^[7]. CBIC is reported to have told field formations about the September 2024 self-declaration rule in Instruction 24/2024-Customs^[19].

Show it to buyers if you sell online. Under the CCPA's 2025 guidelines, an online listing for licence-exempt radio equipment must give the ETA details with a downloadable ETA copy, the operating frequency ranges and a downloadable test report from an accredited lab^[20]. The guidelines were written with walkie-talkies in mind, but they cover all radio equipment sold online^[20].

Do not change the radio. For PMR 446 radios, DoT has said an ETA is not valid once the approved parameters change, and that non-compliance found in monitoring can lead to revocation^[21]. A model with different radio hardware is a different product. Apply for it separately.

Remember the ETA is RF-only. WPC grants the ETA for RF compliance alone. ETA holders must still get any DGFT clearance needed and are solely responsible for DGFT import compliance^[4]. It also does not replace BIS CRS, TEC MTCTE, EPR or Legal Metrology registration where those apply.

You need a WPC import licence only for wireless equipment that is not covered by the self-declaration route. That means licensed-band equipment, or licence-exempt equipment that DGFT lists as 'Restricted'^[7]. The legal basis goes back to a 1953 customs notification requiring a Ministry of Communications licence to import any wireless transmitter, receiver or transceiver, subject to exemptions^[7].

On Saral Sanchar the import licence is applied for online and auto-generated after you upload the signed application and documents and pay. The fee is Rs 500 per licence and it is valid for one year^[5]. Supporting documents include your service licence or DPL, purchase order and proforma invoice, technical literature, ETA copies and frequency assignment letters^[5].

DoT's import licence page still points to Saral Sanchar, but it does not say whether import licences will move to the new Authorisation Portal. Check with DoT before you apply.

Dealer permissions have moved. Possession of radio equipment for sale, hire, repair, testing or demonstration now comes under the Telecommunications (Radio Equipment Possession Authorisation) Rules, 2026, applied for on the Authorisation Portal from 06.08.2026. The application fee is Rs 1,000 and the authorisation fee Rs 10,000 a year for manufacture or sale, with a Rs 2,000 a year option for testing or demonstration only^[10]. The rules were reportedly notified as G.S.R. 592(E) on 8 July 2026^[22].

Give Customs the ETA certificate and the undertaking, both generated or downloaded from Saral Sanchar^[11]. Customs may treat the self-declaration as enough evidence to clear licence-exempt wireless products^[3].

If the product already has an ETA, you import with a copy of that ETA and a signed undertaking that the product works only in de-licensed bands and is free under DGFT import policy^[11]. That ETA does not have to be yours: once issued, others can use it to import the same product without paying again^[11]. Check the model number on the certificate against the invoice line by line.

Your customs broker uploads these papers with the bill of entry through ICEGATE. Our customs clearance documents checklist lists the rest, and why shipments get held at Indian ports covers what happens when a wireless approval is missing.

Products that are not free under DGFT import policy, such as drones, get their ETA from the WPC Wing's Regional Licensing Offices through the routine online procedure, not the self-declaration form^[11].

Self-declaration is closed to radar, jammers, drones and satellite equipment^[3]. Licence-exempt devices that DGFT lists as 'Restricted' need a scrutiny-based ETA and then an import licence^[7], and equipment in licensed bands needs an operating licence^[7]. Check the DGFT status of your HS code on the DGFT portal or with our HS code approval finder before you start, because the answer changes which form you fill.

Saral Sanchar stopped taking new Telegraph Act licence applications; new authorisations under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 go to the Authorisation Portal from 25 June 2026^[1][23]. The ETA itself still runs on Saral Sanchar.

You can update your profile without scrutiny only while no application is in process in any module. Once an application is in process, a profile change has to be scrutinised by the DoT officer^[16]. So fix your company name, address and contact person before you file the first ETA. Changing them mid-application can hold it up.

The same login serves every module (WPC, Unified Licence, OSP and others), so one company account is enough for all of its ETAs^[16].

Most ETA problems come from the paperwork, not the portal.

Say you import three models of Bluetooth earbuds and one Wi-Fi camera, all made in a licence-exempt band and 'Free' under DGFT policy.

The government's share is fixed at Rs 40,000 for the four models. If your factory already holds valid RF reports from an accredited lab, the testing line can drop to nothing, because the undertaking only requires that the lab be accredited and named^[14]. If you buy in help, one consultancy quotes Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000 per filing^[18]. For the full cost picture see WPC ETA costs.

Raise a ticket from the helpdesk link on saralsanchar.gov.in, or call 011-23350020 or 011-23350025, Monday to Friday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm^[1]. For login trouble through Janparichay/MeriPehchaan, DoT publishes a step-by-step guide and a video^[1].

For questions about which permission a product needs, the helpdesk is the wrong door. Read the WPC ETA guide and the comparison in WPC ETA vs MTCTE first. MTCTE runs on a different portal: see the MTCTE portal.

DoT also publishes separate FAQ files on its Saral Sanchar FAQ page, including ETA self-declaration FAQs, DSC FAQs and a lost user ID and password FAQ^[23]. If you would rather not deal with the portal at all, see how a WPC consultant works, or ask us for a free compliance check. For the approval itself, read our guide to getting WPC approval.