India, Aug. 13 -- Delhi has recorded the worst recovery rate in the country for lost or stolen mobile phones - a meagre 1.87%, far below the national average of 24.5%.

Data collated from states and UTs on the Sanchar Saathi website shows that 822,694 phones were blocked in the Capital. Of these, 527,426 were traced using the portal, but only 9,871 were actually recovered.

While the department of telecommunications (DoT) traces blocked devices through Sanchar Saathi, the responsibility for recovery lies with the police in each state or UT. After Delhi, Punjab (10.98%), Bihar (12.45%), Chandigarh (12.49%) and Nagaland (12.81%) reported the lowest recovery rates - still several times higher than that in Delhi.

In contrast, Lakshadweep rep...