Highlights
- The Indian government has banned 59 Chinese applications
- The government said these apps impinge upon the sovereignty and integrity of India
- Ban will have huge financial implications for Chinese firms and promoters
In the latest standoff between world’s two most populous nations, India has banned 59 apps developed by Chinese firms over concerns that these apps were engaging in activities that threatened “national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India”.
‘The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India,’ India’s Ministry of Information Technology said in a statement on Monday.
‘The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.’
LIST OF BANNED APPS:
This is the first time that India, the world’s second-largest internet market with nearly half of its 1.3 billion population online, has ordered to ban so many foreign apps.
New Delhi said nation’s Computer Emergency Response Team had received many “representations from citizens regarding the security of data and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues.”
“The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India,” it said.
The Indian government said many public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India had flagged concerns and there had been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of its citizens.
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Ban on TikTok in India will negatively impact the valuations of the app and its upcoming IPO. Source: AAP Image/Rafael Henrique / SOPA Images/Sipa USA
Ban will ‘negatively impact’ Chinese firms
The move is likely to have a huge impact on Chinese firms, many of which count India as their biggest market.
When India blocked TikTok app for a week last year, its developer, Beijing Bytedance Technology Co had said in a court filing that it was losing more than $500,000 a day and putting more than 250 jobs at risk.
In April, app analytics firm Sensor Tower said India was the biggest driver of TikTok app installations, accounting for 611 million lifetime downloads, or 30.3 per cent of the total.
Blaise Fernandes, the Director of Gateway House, a Mumbai-based foreign policy think-tank says Government of India’s decision to ban these prominent Chinese applications will negatively impact Chinese firms and their respective owners.
“The Digital India story is globally tracked. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are part of the digital ‘Silk Route’ of China,” Mr Fernandes told SBS Hindi.
“There are essentially four types of Chinese apps functioning in India — Economic Activity Apps, Service-Oriented Apps, Vanity Apps and Strategic Apps.
“The ban of the 59 Chinese Apps in India will negatively impact the valuations of these apps and their respective promoters. Case in point - the upcoming IPO of TikTok where 30% user base comes from India. This will impact the TikTok valuations negatively,” he said.
India has recently witnessed an increase in anti-China sentiment after more than 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a military clash in the Himalayas earlier this month.
