Shein's Re-Entry In India? Isha Ambani-Led Reliance Retail Could Host Chinese Fast Fashion Brand In Indian Market

Parliament was told Tuesday that strict government regulations, including total local control over operations and data under its Indian partner, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd., are necessary for the Chinese fashion brand Shein to return to the Indian market.

Piyush Goyal, the minister of commerce, confirmed in a written response to the Lok Sabha that the government has expressed 'no objection' to a proposal that would allow Reliance Retail to sell Shein products on an e-commerce platform that was developed in India. The approval comes after discussions with a number of ministries, including IT, electronics, and home affairs.

Reliance will have total operational control

Reliance will continue to have complete ownership and operational authority over the platform as per the agreement. All infrastructure will be housed in India, and Shein won't have access to any of the data that is gathered from Indian consumers, either personal or non-personal.

Data and apps will be hosted on Indian servers

'The Platform will always be hosted on Indian infrastructure in accordance with the agreement, and all platform data—both personal and non-personal—generated by the Platform's operations, including all data gathered from Indian customers, will stay in India, with Shein having no access to or rights over such data,' Goyal stated.

Why was Shein banned?

Previously one of India's top online retailers, Shein was one of more than 300 Chinese-affiliated apps that were outlawed beginning in 2020 due to national security concerns.

The UC Browser from Alibaba, the Community and Video Call apps from Xiaomi, and ByteDance's TikTok were among the other well-known apps that were prohibited.

China has frequently denounced India's actions, claiming that they violate World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations and are detrimental to the 'legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.'

Before being approved, Shein's return process was subjected to a rigorous government review process that involved the Ministry of Textiles, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the IT ministry.