India raided vivo and frozen 4.65 billion rupees. In April, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau accused Xiaomi of violating India's foreign exchange control law and frozen Xiaomi's funds of 55.538 billion rupees. At present, the Indian crackdown on China enterprises is still spreading. India raided vivo and frozen 4.65 billion rupees.
India raided vivo and frozen 4.65 billion rupees 1 In recent years, with the increasing market share of China smartphone manufacturers in India, the sales revenue of China smartphone manufacturers from the Indian market has also increased rapidly every year. However, since last year, smartphone manufacturers in China, such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and ZTE, have been continuously suppressed for many reasons, such as "suspected money laundering", "tax evasion" and "making false accounts".
Vivo India Company was investigated and 4.65 billion rupees was frozen.
On July 5, local time, Indian media reported that Indian anti-money laundering agencies raided as many as 40 offices in vivo India on the grounds that vivo India was suspected of money laundering.
At that time, vivo issued a statement in response that it was cooperating with the Indian authorities to investigate the matter, and said that vivo India Company fully abided by local Indian laws.
On July 7, local time, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau officially issued a statement through its official website, saying that it had raided 23 affiliated companies and 48 business premises including vivo Mobiles India Private Limited, the main company of Vivo in India, on July 5, local time.
According to the information released by the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau, vivo India Company was established on August 1 day, 2065438, and its registered place is ROC Delhi, India. It is a subsidiary of Hong Kong Multi-Accord Limited.
At the same time, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau also mentioned GPI CPL (Grand Prospects International Communication Pvt. Ltd.), an affiliated company of vivo India Company, which was incorporated in ROC Shimla, India on February 3, 20 14. The company was founded by Zhang Jiesan, Europe, Lou Bin and China citizens with the help of Sh. Nitin Garg, they are all directors of GPICPL.
At present, these three China citizens have left India. Lou Bin left India on April 20 18, and Ou He left India on April 2026 54 38+08.
The Indian Law Enforcement Bureau accused GPICPL shareholders of using forged identity documents and forged addresses when establishing the company. At the same time, Lou Bin, director of GPICPL, is also the former director of vivo. After the establishment of Vivo India Company in 2065438+04-2065438+05, Binlou registered a number of companies all over India, distributed in various states, and registered about 18 companies at the same time. In addition, Wei Zhixin, another China citizen, also registered four companies related to vivo India.
The statement also shows that the above-mentioned affiliated companies have transferred a large amount of funds to vivo India. Vivo India remitted nearly half of its local sales of125185 billion rupees (about1057.8 billion yuan) in India, about 624.76 billion rupees (about 52.79 billion yuan, about 7.87 billion US dollars) abroad, with Chinese mainland as the main destination.
The Indian Law Enforcement Bureau said, "These remittances are to create huge losses for vivo India registered companies to avoid paying taxes in India."
In the above business activities, all business premises have followed all due process according to law. However, during this search, vivo Indian employees, including some China citizens, did not cooperate with the search procedure and tried to abscond, remove and hide the digital devices found by the search team.
The Indian Law Enforcement Bureau believes that vivo is suspected of violating India's Money Laundering Prevention Act (PMLA), so it has frozen 1 19 bank accounts of vivo and its affiliated companies in India, and frozen cash and other assets worth about 4.65 billion rupees (about 390 million yuan), including 660 million rupees bank time deposits of vivo India, 2 kilograms of gold bars and about 73,000 yuan.
Vivo responded that freezing bank accounts was "illegal" and demanded cancellation.
Regarding the freezing of bank accounts by the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau, vivo India Company has sought to revoke the decision of the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau to freeze its bank accounts from a court in New Delhi, India. According to court documents, vivo said the move was "illegal" and would damage the business operation of its Indian company.
According to the documents submitted by vivo India Company to the High Court of New Delhi, due to the freezing of the 10 bank account of vivo India Company, the company will not be able to pay the statutory wages and membership fees. Vivo India said that it needs to pay about 28.26 billion Indian Rupee (about 2.396 billion yuan) every month to keep the company running.
India raided vivo and frozen 4.65 billion rupees. According to a report by Indian New Delhi TV on the 5th, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau raided China mobile phone manufacturer vivo and other related companies in 44 locations across the country that day, claiming to investigate whether they were engaged in so-called money laundering activities. Later on the 5th, vivo responded to the Global Times: "vivo is cooperating with relevant departments in India to provide them with all the information they need. As a responsible company, we strictly abide by all local laws and regulations in India. "
According to reports, the locations for finding China enterprises are located in Bihar, Debon, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. In fact, the surprise inspection of vivo by Indian law enforcement agencies has long been a warning. About two months ago, after taking judicial action against Xiaomi, another Indian mobile phone manufacturer, for allegedly violating the foreign exchange control law, the documents of the Indian Ministry of Enterprise Affairs showed that the Indian government was investigating the possible "improper financial behavior" of Chinese-funded enterprises in China, such as vivo.
The report also said that the Indian government department launched an investigation on "whether there are major irregularities in ownership structure and financial report" as early as April this year, but the specific contents and results of the investigation have not been disclosed.
It is not clear what kind of predicate crime the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau launched this money laundering investigation. Indian law enforcement agencies have not released any details about the search operation. According to a report quoted by a source in India's Economic Times on the 5th, vivo was first investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation of India, and then the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau took over the investigation for allegedly violating the Prevention of Money Laundering Law.
According to the report, the company's dealers in Jammu and Kashmir have been inspected by relevant law enforcement agencies earlier, because the Indian government claimed to have found that at least two shareholders of the company submitted forged documents and wrong addresses.
Since the conflict with China in June 2020, the relationship between the two sides has become tense. Some departments in India began to politicize economic issues and gradually shifted the focus of suppression to Indian enterprises. At the end of 20021,the Indian tax authorities searched Xiaomi, OPPO and other enterprises; In February this year, after the Indian Ministry of Electronic Information Technology banned 54 apps (most of which were products of Indian companies) on the grounds of "security threats", the Indian tax authorities searched Huawei's office in China;
In April, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau accused Xiaomi of violating India's foreign exchange control law and freezing Xiaomi's funds of 555.5438 billion rupees. At present, the Indian crackdown on China enterprises is still spreading. According to a report by Bloomberg at the end of May, the Indian Ministry of Enterprise Affairs has started to examine the accounts of more than 500 enterprises in India and China. In addition to ZTE and vivo, Xiaomi, OPPO, Huawei, Alibaba and other companies with business units in India are under review.
Earlier, the news that Indian authorities investigated China enterprises such as vivo was exposed, which attracted Chinese attention. Zhao, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, responded to this at a regular press conference on May 3 1, saying that the China government has always required China enterprises to operate legally and in compliance overseas, and firmly supported China enterprises to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. Zhao stressed that China should act in accordance with the law and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Indian enterprises to invest and operate in India.
Reuters reported on the 8th that a legal document showed that vivo, a mobile phone manufacturer in China, had sought to cancel the decision of the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau to freeze its bank account, saying it was "illegal" and would damage the company's business operation.
According to a statement issued by the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau on the 7th, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau searched 48 locations and 23 related companies of vivo India Company on the 5th on the grounds of suspected violation of the relevant provisions of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering. In this statement, the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau accused vivo India of remitting 624.76 billion rupees to China and other places to avoid paying taxes, which is equivalent to about half of the company's income.
The Indian Law Enforcement Bureau said that it had frozen 1 19 bank accounts related to vivo India Company, totaling 4.65 billion rupees (about 386 million yuan), including 660 million rupees time deposits, 2 kilograms of gold bars and about 730,000 rupees in cash of vivo India Company.
According to the documents submitted by vivo to the High Court of New Delhi, due to the freezing of the account, the company will not be able to pay the statutory membership fees and wages. Vivo said that it is cooperating with the authorities and promised to fully abide by Indian laws. Vivo's court documents list 10 bank accounts affected by this decision. The company said that it pays about 28.26 billion rupees (about 2.396 billion yuan) every month. Reuters said that the New Delhi High Court asked the Indian Law Enforcement Bureau to make a decision on vivo's request before July 13.
On the 5th of this month, vivo told the Global Times reporter that as a responsible enterprise, vivo strictly abides by all local laws and regulations in India. As of press time on the 8th, vivo has not responded to the latest development of the situation.
Reuters quoted statistics as saying that in the first quarter of 2022, Indian smartphone shipments reached 38 million units, with market leader Xiaomi accounting for 24% of the total, followed by Samsung (18%) and vivo( 15%). However, the rapid rise of China's mobile phone brands in India has also become the focus of suppression by Indian authorities. Since the beginning of this year, vivo has become the third mobile phone manufacturer in China to be raided.
Regarding the Indian investigation of vivo, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in India said recently that the frequent investigation of Indian enterprises not only interfered with their normal business activities and damaged their goodwill, but also hindered the improvement of India's business environment and dampened the confidence and willingness of market players from all countries, including China enterprises, to invest and operate in India. He called on the Indian side to investigate and enforce the law according to laws and regulations, and effectively provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Indian enterprises to invest and operate in China.