The officials of Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of popular smartphones, BlackBerry will hold discussions with the India security officials starting this Thursday to reach an agreement on the issue of allowing its encrypted email and messaging services to continue in India.

The government has set a deadline of August 31 for the company to make available tools to allow access for the security agencies to start monitoring its data services. An interior ministry official has said that the final decision will be taken nest week.

"Deliberations will go on for the next two days and a final decision will be taken on Monday," According to a senior interior ministry official.

The Indian authorities have toughened their stand and has asked Research In Motion RIM), the makers of the popular smartphone devices, to install a server in the country or face ban on its services.

RIM wants to ensure confidentiality and secrecy for its customers with the high level of encryption applied while the authorities want to be able to monitor the data for potential security threats. The mechanism scrambles the emails when sent and then unscrambles them when it reaches its destinations. The security agencies were concerned over the BlackBerry’s Enterprise and Messenger services which can be used by potentials threats to the country.

The home ministry was concerned about monitoring data services on these handsets and had raised the issue with the company. The ministry has asked the telecom authorities to give RIM a period of 15 days to align its email and other data services with the Formats that can be read by the security and intelligence agencies.

RIM has given security agencies an existing tool that allows them to monitor text on encrypted BlackBerry messenger and the government appears to have cleared other services such as the BlackBerry messenger, voice calls and short-messaging services. The corporate e-mail service is not cleared and the government is demanding tools to gain access for monitoring them.