India have announced the seizure of $725 million from the local bank accounts of Xiaomi following a probe which found out that the Chinese smartphone giant had unlawfully sent money abroad in the guise of royalty payments, authorities.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that India’s financial crime investigations agency had began investigating the company in February and revealed that it seized the money from the firm’s local arm after discovering it had made remittances to three foreign-based entities.
The Enforcement Directorate in a statement on Saturday said; ‘Such huge amounts in the name of royalties were remitted on the instructions of their Chinese parent group entities’.
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Africa Daily News, New York recalls that the firm’s India office was raided sometime in December in a separate investigation over alleged income tax evasion.
The friction between the Chinese smartphone markers and the India has continued to heighten in recent times as both parties square up towards what could prove to be a complicated legal war.
Other Chinese smartphone markers including Huawei also had their Indian offices searched at the time.
Relations between New Delhi and Beijing have been at a low ebb since a deadly Himalayan border clash between soldiers from both countries in 2020.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that in the aftermath of that decsion, India’s home ministry banned hundreds of mobile applications of Chinese origin, including the popular social media platform Tiktok.
The government justified the bans on the apps as safeguarding against threats to India’s sovereignty.
Anti-China sentiment has grown in India since the fatal 2020 troop clash, sparking calls for consumer boycotts of Chinese goods.
Despite the developments, China has remained a key economic partner for India, with more than $125 billion in bilateral trade last year according to credible media reports.
