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| India is expanding the ban with additional Xiaomi apps |
Three sources told Reuters on Wednesday that the Indian ban had been expanded to include certain mobile applications for Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Baidu. This is the latest step New Delhi has taken against Chinese companies after a border dispute between two neighboring countries.
In June this year, India banned 59 Chinese apps that threatened state sovereignty and integrity, including ByteDance TikTok, Alibaba Browser (UC) and Xiaomi Mi Community video sharing app.
The source said: About 47 apps have been blocked in the past few weeks. These apps usually contain different versions of the apps that have been blocked.
The source said that contrary to the June decision, the Indian government has not announced the final decision but added new applications to this list, including search apps from Xiaomi (Mi Browser Pro) and Baidu. .
It is not known how many new allegations were affected by India's new ban. The Ministry of Information Technology and the Chinese embassy in New Delhi did not respond to requests for comment.
And China had previously criticized India's decision to ban the nominations. A spokesman for Xiaomi India said: The company is trying to understand its development and will take appropriate action if necessary, while Baidu declined to comment.
He added: "Xiaomi continues to meet all requirements of the Indian Data Protection and Security Act and comply with it. As part of this process, we will work with key stakeholders to find opportunities to submit our requests."
The ban (Mi Browser) pre-installed on most Xiaomi smartphones could result in the Chinese company having to stop installing it on new devices sold in India.
According to market research firm Counterpoint, Xiaomi is the largest company in India with nearly 90 million users in terms of smartphone sales.
The embargo is part of the measures taken by India against the dominance of China in the country's Internet services market after the border conflict between the nuclear weapon neighbors in June, which left 20 Indian soldiers. killing.
India has also made it more difficult to obtain approval for Chinese companies wishing to invest in the country, and has tightened its standards for Chinese companies wishing to participate in government tenders.