As India amends FDI policy, startup investments reveal why protection from China is needed

Even as India on Saturday amended its foreign direct investment policy to ensure no hostile takeover of stressed firms could take place during the COVID-19 lockdown, major startups in the country are already heavily funded by Chinese conglomerates with investments running into the billions. In India, as is the nature of such things all around the world, all successful start-ups worth over 1 billion US dollars (Unicorns) are in some way or the other funded by foreign entities, either directly, or via indirectly via the funding of the venture capital that is invested into them, and China is a major player in this market, with some very big names.

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As per data released by Gateway House, Jasper Infotech, popularly known as the e-commerce website Snapdeal, has received over $700 million as investment from Chinese multinational conglomerate-- Alibaba Group along with others. Popular Indian e-payment website Paytm has received over $650 million from Chinese investors mostly by the Alibaba Group again. 

The report also reveals that food delivery app Swiggy has received an investment of around $500 million by Meituan Dianping and other Chinese conglomerates.  Another top food delivery app in the country, Zomato, has receiveed over $200 million as investment from Alibaba Group and others. 

India's popular ride-sharing company Ola has received over $500 million from Chinese investors such as Tencent Holdings, Steadview Capital and others, while Indian hotel chain Oyo Rooms has garnered over $100 million from Chinese investors, as per the Gateway House report. 

While the virus which has infected over 2,331,892 people and claimed over 1,60,763 lives bringing global economies to a standstill, China, from were it originated has slowly begun to recover from the pandemic and has picked up its manufacturing again. 

India's red flags were raised after People's Bank of China (PBoC) on April 12, bought a 1% stake in India's largest housing finance lenders - HDFC Ltd, an investment amounting to  1.75 crore shares in HDFC. 

According to the amendment in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), neighboring countries - including China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan will require government approval for investing in Indian companies. Apart from India, EU, US, Australia have checked Chinese FDI amid COVID-19 crisis.

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