Vivo says it acts in line with Indian laws and codes

Vivo said in a statement to China Daily that “As a responsible corporate, we are committed to be fully compliant with laws in India”.

BEIJING: Chinese smartphone vendor Vivo says its branch in India is cooperating with local authorities to provide them with all the required information, and the company is committed to full compliance with Indian laws.

The comments came after Indian media reported that authorities there conducted searches at over 40 locations across India in connection with an alleged money-laundering case linked to Vivo and other Chinese firms.

Vivo said in a statement to China Daily that “As a responsible corporate, we are committed to be fully compliant with laws in India”.

Chinese brands currently account for four of the top five smartphone vendors in India by shipments. At the end of the first quarter, Vivo had a 15% market share in the country, according to market research company Counterpoint.

That puts Vivo in fourth place, behind Xiaomi, Samsung and Realme.

The Vivo investigation came after Indian tax authorities conducted searches at multiple premises of Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies Co, Xiaomi and Oppo as part of tax investigations earlier this year.

After seizing US$726mil (RM3.2bil) from Xiaomi in April, India began the process of inspecting accounting records of more than 500 Chinese companies including ZTE Corp, Vivo, Xiaomi and Huawei, Bloomberg reported in May.

Such frequent investigations targeting Chinese companies are affecting Chinese investors’ confidence in the Indian market, said Ding Jihua, deputy director of the Beijing New Century Academy on Transnational Corp, an institute that focuses on the study of multinational enterprises.

Foreign investors, including Chinese companies, are increasingly concerned about the investment climate in India, Ding said.

Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors also told China Daily on Wednesday that it has given up a deal to purchase a plant of US automaker GM in the state of Maharashtra, India, because it failed to obtain regulatory approval.

The two companies struck the deal in January 2020 as the US’ No. 1 automaker by sales was leaving the Indian market.

Great Wall Motors was expected to pay around US$300mil (RM1.33bil) for the plant as part of a broader plan to invest US$1bil (RM4.4bil) to establish a presence in India. — China Daily/ANN