All new mobile phones sold in India will have panic buttons from 2017

To provide emergency assistance to women, the Indian government had recently announced that all mobile phones sold in India from 2017 would require a panic button to let users make emergency calls. 

It has now been clarified that only new handsets will come with panic buttons, with Indian handset manufacturers arguing that it isn't "possible" to install them on mobile phones that are already in use. This effectively excludes the country's one billion plus mobile phone subscribers from the new facility.