India has just issued a ban on 242 apps and websites, most of which are linked to China, showing that tensions between the two countries have not “cooled down”.
According to Bloomberg sources, India’s Ministry of Technology ordered the removal of 138 betting and gambling applications, as well as 94 credit services. The person said the ban came from the Interior Ministry, which oversees domestic issues such as national security. The apps are suspected of transferring data to China.
After the news was announced, shares of Paytm – India’s leading digital lending service – skyrocketed. Among the banned lending apps are Paytm rivals like PayU’s LazyPay.
On February 6, the Economic Times reported that the government had blocked many loan applications and other services related to China. A few days earlier, Paytm reported a lower loss.
In an email to Bloomberg, PayU said that due to some unavoidable circumstances, the company’s website and applications are not accessible from some Internet service providers.
Since the clash at the border between the two countries in 2020, the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has blocked many major Chinese technology firms. The country banned hundreds of services, including Tencent’s WeChat, ByteDance’s TikTok. The central bank also tightened regulation of digital loans following finding some apps violated standards and harassed users.
In addition, India also “restricted” Chinese enterprises in other fields. For example, they are considering banning mainland smartphone manufacturers from selling devices under 12,000 rupees (regarding 3.4 million dong) to support the domestic industry. The move will greatly affect brands like Xiaomi.
(Theo Bloomberg)