Along with ongoing scrutiny by the U.S., China is continuing to face difficulties in the imports and exports of its hardware and software services. A couple of days ago, we learned that Japan is restricting semiconductor exports to China, and now India has blocked over 200 mobile apps and websites with links to the country too.
232 mobile apps and websites have reportedly been banned by the Indian interior ministry in an order that is yet to be made public. While some of these apps are created by Indians, they are suspected of transferring data to China. The list of blocked apps and websites contains 138 betting and gambling apps, and 94 apps providing credit services.
Although the reason behind this sweeping block has not been made public yet, it is possibly related to national security, since that is one of the areas that the interior ministry oversees. That said, China and India do have strained political relations too.
Following news of the block for China-linked credit and lending services, share prices for India"s digital payments leader Paytm soared by a record 20% in early trading hours. The creator of the LazyPay lending app, PayU, told Bloomberg that:
Due to unavoidable circumstances our website and app are currently unavailable via a few internet service providers. Please be assured that we are doing everything to resolve the issue.
PayU is owned by South African firm Naspers, which is also the largest shareholder in Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings.
This move is just the latest in India tightening its grip over China"s tech industry operating in the country. Last year, it was considering banning the sale of Chinese phones that cost less than $150.
Source: Bloomberg