Chinese companies aren¡¯t having the time of their lives in India, with Indian government keeping them under tight scrutiny and banning Chinese apps left, right and centre.?
However, that isn¡¯t stopping massive Chinese investments flowing into Indian companies.?
An ET report revealed that Tencent has invested $62.8 million (approximately Rs 461 crores) in Flipkart PTE -- Flipkart India¡¯s Singapore based holding company. According to the report, this is a part of the $1.2 billion investment round as per regulatory filings. As per the filings, courtesy of Paper.vc has revealed that Chinese tech company Tencent owns around 4 to 5.3 percent in Flipkart PTE.
In case you forgot, In July, Walmart led a $1.2 billion investment in Flipkart's commerce business, valuing it at $24.9 billion. The US-based retail chain already owns around 80 percent stake in Flipkart.?
Even though the amount invested isn¡¯t as significant, its timing is crucial looking at how Tencent has managed to lose a considerable chunk of money ever since the battle royale game PUBG got banned from India after it allegedly collected user data and sent it to the Chinese government.?
In fact, in just two days post the massive ban, Tencent lost a whopping $34 billion in valuation -- second-largest this year, the first one being when WeChat got banned in the US. This ban also resulted in the South Korean gaming company rescinding its license for the battle royale game from Tencent, specifically for India. Moreover, Tencent recently also announced that it has shifted its Asia hub from India to Singapore after the ban.?
Just yesterday, Flipkart announced, that for its upcoming Big Billion Sale, it is looking to provide employment to more 70,000 individuals at the company while indirectly providing employment to lakhs of other people in the seller network.?
The geopolitical issues between India and China shows no sign of de-escalation and Indian government has been retaliating against it by banning several Chinese apps from being made available in India, including the ban of the beloved video sharing platform TikTok as well as hundreds of other Chinese apps in the mix.?