Paytm may be an Indian company, but the e-commerce payment platform has now made it to the 'ban Chinese products' hit-list. A recent violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the border in eastern Ladakh has left 20 Indian Army officials dead, and others critically injured. Now, Indians want nothing to do with the neighbouring country and the myriad products and services that have been associated with it in some or the other way.
Since the attack, protests have erupted in different parts of the country. From appealing to people to boycott Chinese products and urging the Indian government to give a 'befitting reply' to China to burning effigies of Chinese leader Xi Jinping -- people seem to be in the grip of a nationalistic fervour.
Against this backdrop, companies that have Chinese or China-based investors have not been faring well. Many on social media platforms now want Indians to stop using such products and applications. But this might be easier said than done as the list of companies with Chinese investment is extensive.
As per a Financial Times report from February, China has emerged as one of the biggest financiers for start-ups in India, with approximately two-thirds of Indian start-ups valued at more than $1 billion now having at least one Chinese VC investor.
Coming back to Paytm, it is but one of the many well known companies of today that has Chinese backers. Others in the same list include Bigbasket, Zomato, Ola and Byju's. While the Alibaba Group has invested in Paytm and Zomato, the other two have received funding from Tencent.
Note that this article is not looking at Chinese companies whose products are sold in India -- such as Xiaomi.
As per the Paytm website, their investors include "Softbank, SAIF Partners, Alibaba Group and Ant Financial." If one looks further, Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese Alibaba Group, holds a 29.71% share in the company. The Japanese Softbank Group is the second largest shareholder at 19.63%, while SAIF Partners which had headquarters in China and India and is associated with the Softbank Group comes third.
As per social media users, this makes Paytm a boycott-worthy application.
Many claimed that they had already uninstalled the app, while others put forth a list of companies with Chinese investors -- possibly to create awareness. The posts also ran the gamut -- from bizarre allegations to seemingly disjoined comments. One Twitter user even called for a 15 day "Chinese Lockdown".
Take a look at some of the posts:
