Chinese app ban: Safeguarding Indian interest

New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) The ban on Chinese apps by the Indian government might appear out of sync with increasing bilateral trade ties.

But India has its own reasons to do so. No country would remain indifferent when it suspects breach of national security and citizen's data privacy. The Chinese companies are globally seen with suspicion in this regard.

In view of safeguarding national security and concerns related to data privacy of Indian citizens, the government of India under Section 69-A of the Information Technology Act 2000 recently banned operations of 54 Chinese apps in the country.

The banned apps include Dual Space, Badlanders, Wink, and even the popular Free Fire game.

Citing the reasons, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) noted that these apps belong to large Chinese tech firms such as Tencent, Alibaba and NetEase, and are re-branded versions of apps already banned by India in 2020.

Further, there were complaints that these apps were 'stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data' in an unauthorised manner to servers located outside India and that the compilation of this data, it's mining and profiling 'by elements hostile to the national security and defence of India' ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.

Meanwhile, trade ties between India and China remain robust with China becoming India's second largest trading partner in 2020-21, right behind the United States, and is the largest exporter to India, especially in pharma, electronics and IT hardware.

Indian tech startups, telecom infrastructure and manufacturing businesses have attracted significant Chinese investment over the past few years.

Earlier, in November 2020, the Indian government blocked access to 43 mobile apps based on the inputs that these apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state and public order.

The Indian government's move is to ensure security, sovereignty and safety of the Indian cyberspace and needs to be seen in the perspective of India's vision of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' aimed at reducing the country's dependence on imports for products that it could indigenously manufacture.

The present ban on Chinese apps also fits in with Indian governments focus on development of indigenous entrepreneurship and promotion of startup culture in the country.

Further, Indians can develop their own applications that will not only generate domestic revenue, but will also create employment for local techies.

India has emerged as the third largest startup ecosystem after the US and China and ahead of the UK (32) and Germany (18).

It could be well imagined that with the improving startup environment in India, the country would attract more investments in India's startups as seen in 2021.

In 2021, there were 90 unicorns in India and 4 decacorns which attracted $42 billion of investment. As India further pursues its Startup India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat programmes, many of the production lines in both goods and services sectors will be created within the country.

Howsoever inconvenient this is for the foreign suppliers, India is well within its right to safeguard its national security and privacy of its citizens, besides developing its own brands.