Research in Motion (RIM) has extended an offer to the Indian government in which the Canadian company which makes BlackBerry smartphones would lead an industry forum on supporting the lawful access needs of law enforcement agencies while preserving the information security needs of businesses in India.

Earlier this month, the Indian government gave RIM until the end of August to address security issues due to concerns raised over the ability of security forces to intercept email sent via BlackBerrys, which they say could pose a potential security risk if they are unable to access correspondence from suspected terrorist organisations.

In a statement RIM said the industry forum would focus on developing recommendations for policies and processes aimed at preventing the misuse of encryption technologies, while preserving its benefits for Indian users.

“The use of strong encryption in wireless technology is not unique to the BlackBerry platform. It is unquestionably an industry wide matter,” RIM said.

“Singling out and banning one solution, such as the BlackBerry solution, would be ineffective and counter-productive.”

Kapil Gupta, consultant at Indian multi-sector recruiter Shella told Recruiter that though BlackBerry use is widespread in India, there are alternatives.

“I recruit engineers for the oil and gas sector, and recruit for the construction, banking and finance and hospitality sectors. I don’t use BlackBerry so it will not make a difference to me.

“But BlackBerry is widely used in India. People use it for checking emails and browsing the web by business. It will really affect business if there is a ban.”