Sources: India is looking for alternatives to Pegasus to avoid the “PR problem” associated with the NSO Group, and is seeking to spend between $16M and $120M
Modi government seeks alternatives to software made by NSO Group following snooping scandals around the world Tweets: @yusufdfi , @advait_px , @apar1984 , @meenakandasamy , @langamahesh , @rezhasan , @financialtimes , @digitaldutta , and @muradahmed Tweets: Yusuf Unjhawala / @yusufdfi : India is hunting for new spyware with a lower profile than the controversial Pegasus system with rival surveillance software makers preparing bid. https://www.ft.com/... Advait Palepu / @advait_px : The Indian government is looking to buy new spyware software. A clutch of firms are in the race to win the £120 million contract. Earlier, the Supreme Court committee submitted an inconclusive report on the Pegasus malware https://www.ft.com/... Apar / @apar1984 : A natural outcome from the absence of any institutional accountability. There will be continue to be another vendor and another Pegasus. https://www.ft.com/... Meena Kandasamy / @meenakandasamy : India has never publicly acknowledged being a customer of NSO. However, the company's malware has been found on the phones of journalists, left-leaning academics and opposition leaders around India, sparking a political crisis. #Pegasus can turn phones https://www.ft.com/...... https://twitter.com/... Mahesh Langa / @langamahesh : Those familiar with Indian deliberations said officials were considering Greece-headquartered Intellexa, which has also used veterans of the Israeli military to create a spyware called Predator. Will Predator replace Pegasus? https://www.ft.com/... Rezaul Hasan Laskar / @rezhasan : This story suggests that a bidding process is underway. https://twitter.com/... @financialtimes : India is seeking to spend up to $120mn on new spyware from rivals to Pegasus, the Israeli-made system blacklisted by the US https://www.ft.com/... Srinivas Kodali / @digitaldutta : Any data protection law without surveillance reforms is the end of this democracy. The country will exist, it just won't be a democracy https://www.ft.com/... Murad Ahmed / @muradahmed : NEW 🚨India is hunting for alternatives to Pegasus spyware, in response to the “PR problem” caused by revelations about its maker NSO. Around a dozen rival firms circle contract worth up to $120mn. Super reporting in @FT by @MehulAtLarge @kayewiggins https://www.ft.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Pegasus was never just a product: as a tool requiring a weapons-style export license, it became a pillar of Israeli diplomatic outreach, with Gulf deals worth hundreds of millions. But the brand has become radioactive — the leak showing some 15,000 Mexicans as potential targets, Snowden's call for a trade ban, and NSO's documented financial troubles after human-rights groups documented abuses have turned the name itself into a liability for buyers.
India's reported search for a 'lower profile' replacement — with rival vendors preparing bids in the $16M–$120M range — shows the demand side adapting: the capability stays, the brand goes.
First-order effects
- Rival spyware makers — the entity trail points to Intellexa's Predator among the contenders — get a shot at one of the market's largest state contracts precisely because they lack NSO's scandal baggage.
- India's surveillance capability continues uninterrupted; what changes is vendor, not practice.
Second-order effects
- NSO loses a major prospective client at the moment its finances are already fragile, accelerating the squeeze documented since 2022 as executives weigh riskier sales to replace lost demand.
- Israel's export-license diplomacy loses leverage with a large buyer if the procurement shifts to vendors outside its licensing regime.
Third-order effects
- The spyware market fragments around reputational arbitrage: scrutiny concentrates on the most exposed vendor while demand migrates to lower-profile rivals, blunting ban-style pressure like Snowden's and making regulation of the industry as a whole harder, not easier.
- Mexico's record — promising to stop while continuing to use Pegasus — suggests procurement changes alone rarely end state spyware use; the pattern points to a durable, multi-vendor market.
The trend: Government spyware demand is migrating from scandal-scarred vendors like NSO to lower-profile rivals, with brand risk — not capability or legality — becoming the deciding factor in state procurement.