India on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, UC Browser, Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vigo Video, Mi Video Call - Xiaomi, Clash of Kings as well as e-commerce platforms like Club Factory and Shein. Law, Electronics and Information Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that government has banned apps for safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India.
The IT Ministry in a statement said it had received many complaints from various sources, including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India".
"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," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Shivsena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday evening asked whether the Govt will cap Indian tech start up’s over-dependence on Chinese funds. For the uninitiated, China-linked investments in India’s tech start-up sector is estimated to be around $4 billion. The companies which have major Chinese investments include Big Basket, Byju’s, Delhivery, Dream 11, Flipkart, Hike, MakeMyTrip, Ola, Oyo, Paytm, Paytm Mall, PolicyBazzar, Quikr, Rivigo, Snapdeal, Swiggy, Uddan and Zomato.
Taking to Twitter Chaturvedi wrote, "To ban 59 apps is understandable as many were engaged in data collection as reported extensively. Next,
- will the govt cap Indian tech start up’s over dependence on China funds (approx $4bn)?
- will the govt keep China companies away from power, telecom & infra eg 5G rollout?"
(With input from Agencies)
