India Cracks Down on Chinese Companies, Accuses Vivo of Money Laundering

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2023-12-30

Chinese company Vivo, which has been in the Indian market for 10 years, has been frequently investigated by India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) for "anti-money laundering investigations", and recently arrested three senior executives including Vivo India's Interim Chief Executive Officer (ICEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), etc. Vivo has been deeply shocked by the Indian government's arrests, and has indicated that it will take legal action against the arrests.

The three senior executives of Vivo India who were arrested this time, appeared in court in New Delhi on December 26th, and after three hours of debate between the lawyers of both sides, the judge finally decided to extend the detention period of the three people for another two days.

Vivo officially entered the Indian market in 2014 and began building a factory in Greater Noida, a region in northern India, in 2015.By 2021, Vivo has opened more than 650 service centers, more than 500 Vivo standalone stores as well as producing 60 million handsets annually in India.

According to media reports, since 2020, the Indian government has blocked more than 200 Chinese cell phone applications, including TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser, for reasons of national security; and Chinese cell phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, realme, OPPO and Vivo have been accused by the Indian side of being caught up in the tax evasion storm.