India ups the digital ante

After banning some 175 apps in the last four months, mostly to neutralise the growing influence of Chinese apps in the country, early last week, India fired yet another salvo, adding another 43 to the list of banned apps. Once again, the major targets are those run by Chinese tech firms. If bans imposed earlier had put paid to the ambitions of Chinese apps like Tik Tok, Shein and WeChat to ingrain themselves further with Indian social life (the ban on Tik Tok had particularly created serious heartburn amidst a section of Indian youth), the latest initiative has given marching orders to popular e-commerce app AliExpress of Alibaba stable, shopping app Taobao Live, delivery app Lalamove, and short video app Snack.

‘This action was based on the inputs regarding these apps being used in activities that are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,’ explained India’s IT ministry, in a statement.

While, during earlier ban impositions, the Chinese protest was somewhat guarded, this time it has not restrained itself in making its displeasure known to the world. Quite strangely, it has gone to the extent of saying that India’s move could well be in violation of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. ‘India’s selective and discriminatory measure targets some Chinese apps on vague and far-fetched grounds and runs contrary to equal and clear procedural standards, abuses exceptions to national security and (is suspected) of violating WTO laws.

It also runs contrary to the general trend of foreign trade and e-commerce, and is not conducive to customer preferences and India market rivalry,’ the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi protested in a formal communiqué.

China’s strong protest this time, however, could well be countered by a ‘look who’s talking’ kind of response. It is no secret to anybody how China in the past has foiled all moves of leading global tech platforms like Google and Facebook (blocked by the Great Firewall) to find a toehold in the world’s most populous and fastest growing market. Of course, it didn’t want its people to interact freely with the platforms mostly commanded from Silicon Valley.

At the same time, nurturing ambitions of being a superpower and being on a par with the US in all respects, it has given all kinds of support to local tech firms to grow big time in the digital space. In all fairness, China had seen before others, including India (generally known for its superior IT capabilities) that, to expand its influence in the world, not only hardware- but software-enabled or digital tools will be equally or probably more important.

In a world where cyber security is becoming as important a concern as climate change or any other pertinent issue, India’s move to ban popular apps may well thwart the uncodified Chinese intentions of penetrating deep into different spheres of Indian life – primarily social and financial.  For most of the popular Chinese apps, there could be probably no other market more lucrative than India, given its size and growing digital orientation.

And given the underlying rivalry between the two neighbours on the global stage, becoming part of the lives of a huge volume of Indian consumers could be a big strategic advantage for the communist regime in Beijing. The aversion shown by most of the developed countries to Chinese telecom giant Huawei is a case in point; the company faces a ban in many countries in participating in the upgrade of their networks to 5G, as it is suspected of containing security holes through which China can access vital data.                        

Returning to the elephant-dragon equation, there are analysts who believe that upping the digital ante by India at best is cosmetic, since it is deeply ingrained in the Indian market, with its electronic devices and massive investments made through Chinese companies in some of the most promising Indian start-ups directly serving millions of consumers. And that, despite the tension at the border and India decisively siding with the anti-China block in the world post-Corona. China is still India’s largest trading partner and is the major supplier of many critical and thriving businesses in India.

These arguments, however, do not seem to hold much water at a time when India has the opportunity to step out of Chinese shadow into global reckoning. It is fully entitled to put a ban on Chinese apps, if it comes to its notice that they are indulging in malicious transmission of user data to servers outside the country. With Corona compelling most of economies to rebuild their fortune with a new strategy, India, with its known IT expertise, must not let this opportunity slip away by also consolidating its position on this line of virtual control, which is probably more difficult to guard, but could be dangerous to ignore in the long run.