Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekar meets Xiaomi, Realme's top India leadership

Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics & Technology met Xiaomi and Realme’s top leaders on Wednesday, sharing pictures of his meeting on Twitter.

In his tweet, the minister also said that he had "set out to Xiaomi our expectations". He said that he had asked the leadership of Xiaomi to increase exports, deepen the supply chain eco-system and that all their products be data privacy compliant.

These two posts were preceded by the minister posting about his meeting with Lava.

“Met Mr. @PankajMohindroo, Chariman @ICEA_India, Mr. @hari_om_rai Chairman & MD @LavaMobile at my office @GoI_MeitY - to strategize plan for strong Indian #supplychain for #NewIndia’s $ 300 Bln electronics plan

#DigitalIndia #DigitalEconomy” - he tweeted and later in the day also shared photos of Lava’s ‘Made in India’ Agni mobile and said that he had just started using it.

The minister’s posts came in as the Enforcement Directorate or ED conducted searches against Chinese smartphone manufacturing company Vivo and related firms in an alleged money laundering case.

According to PTI, these searches are being carried out under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to a media report, this probe against Vivo has now been widened to include three charted accountants and a company secretary.

The ED had filed a money laundering case against Vivo after taking cognisance of a recent Delhi Police FIR against a Vivo distributor based in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Vivo is cooperating with the authorities to provide them with all required information. As responsible corporate, weare committed to be fully complaint with laws," a Vivo spokesperson said in a statement.

This investigation against Vivo is the latest after the scrutiny faced by other Chinese companies like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Oppo in the country and their linked Indian operatives recently on matters of alleged financial crimes like tax evasion and money laundering.

The ED ordered a seizure of Rs 5,551 crore worth of deposits of Xiaomi India in April this year for the “alleged contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)”.

"These royalty payments that Xiaomi India made were for the in-licensed technologies and IPs used in our Indian version products. It is a legitimate commercial arrangement for Xiaomi India to make such royalty payments. However, we are committed to working closely with government authorities to clarify any misunderstandings," Xiaomi had said in a defence statement.

India's Income Tax department had also raided Huawei offices in February and had said to have found “alleged manipulation of account books for reducing taxable income in India”.

Realme and Vivo have parent brand BBK Electronics in common that also owns OnePlus, iQOO and Oppo.

Also Read: ED conducts raids against Vivo, related firms in money laundering probe

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