Article
Banned in Europe, adopted in India
European AI firms are reportedly scaling facial recognition systems banned at home into Indian markets.
16 Jul 20261 min readAI4U Desk
A serious concern is unfolding as European AI firms reportedly scale facial recognition systems banned in their home countries into Indian markets. Spain's Herta supplies hundreds of railway stations across the region, Delhi's largest prison complex, Howrah Station, a pilgrimage site in Ayodhya, and the city control rooms of Ahmedabad. India runs more than 4,000 Herta-powered cameras across the country, partly funded by the Nirbhaya Fund, a public money pool to tackle sexual violence.
Two Herta deployments in India, specifically in Eastern Railway and Ahmedabad, would be illegal under European rules. Meanwhile, Europe has funded the very technology it bans; since 2020, Herta has received over €3.3 million in EU research grants for crowd analysis and facial recognition work. MEP Brando Benifei calls the export of banned surveillance a dangerous double standard Brussels can no longer ignore.
India has no comprehensive data-protection law in force, and existing legislation exempts policing and law enforcement so broadly that deployments like these remain effectively unregulated. While the technology promises efficiency, deploying tools deemed unsafe elsewhere raises important questions around consent, citizen privacy, and the protection of sovereign data.
