After declaring a ban on Bytedance’s TikTok along with 59 other apps, Indian Government is pondering over banning 275 more Chinese apps including PubG backed by Tencent, Ali Express and UC browser owned by Alibaba, phone maker by Xiaomi and music streaming app Reso owned by ByteDance citing concerns regarding privacy and security. According to government officials, the government is still working out the modalities of ban including the process for ban implementation.
This development about the government scrutinizing the list of 275 Chinese apps for potential violation of national security and user privacy was first reported by The Economic Times. According to the reports, the ban could encompass the entire list or some of them as the case may be. Interim order by Central Ministry of electronics and information technology said that apps were engaged in activities that are ‘prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order’. These apps have been asked to provide answers to 79 questions in three-weeks’ time failing which the permanent ban will come into place.
This news assumes greater significance in the current milieu of discord between India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on account of the violent killing of 20 Indian troops by Chinese troops in the Galway area of Ladakh earlier this month. Especially when later in this week, the military and diplomatic talks between India and China are scheduled.

Read EquityPandit’s Nifty Outlook for the Week