India shelves 54 Chinese outbound apps expanding to handhelds Universal Awakening Free Fire and others are among them www.deekpay.com

## India's "fifth season" ban: the big manufacturers "skin change", byte jumping another way, the seafarers how to go? On 14 February 2022, India once again issued a blocking ban on 54 APPs associated with China, including "Battle of Heianjing" and "Awakening of the Nations" produced by Chinese manufacturers, as well as "Free Fire", which is alleged to have ties with Tencent. This is the "fifth season" of India's offensive against Chinese apps since June 2020, when it first banned Chinese apps on national security grounds. Looking back, from the initial core apps such as TikTok, Baidu, PUBG, WeChat, to more than 300 apps today, India has banned many products from Chinese tech giants such as Ali, Tencent and ByteDance. Ironically, all of these companies had previously invested aggressively in the Indian market. The ban has reignited the concerns of those going overseas, with App Annie data showing that India, with 25 billion annual app installations, is the most installed market in the world, and that Chinese products are highly favoured in the Indian market. Take Free Fire for example, the game has 75 million monthly active users in January 2022, of which up to 40 million are Indian users. In the face of the Indian market "ban tide", many Chinese manufacturers are forced to "find another way". Common practices include: 1. "Skin change": some big manufacturers try to re-enter the Indian market by replacing the name and LOGO of the APP, hiding the country of origin in the form of "old wine in a new bottle". For example, Lalamove (the overseas version of Cargo Lala), which was banned in 2020, is now back in India in the form of Delivery Uncle. 2. Capital operation: Some powerful enterprises have built up their parent companies as "bosses" through layers of capital coverage to avoid the ban in India. For example, PUBG Mobile, after withdrawing from the Indian market, returned in May 2021 in the guise of Battlegroups Mobile India, and quickly became the leader of the Indian gaming market. 3. Shifting to other markets: some companies have chosen to abandon the Indian market and shift their goals to other regions, such as ByteDance. The company's Helo, which had become a popular choice for social media platforms in India due to its extensive reach, shifted to markets such as Pakistan, South America and Southeast Asia after the ban. 4. Low-key operations: Some ByteDance-owned products that were not affected by the ban, such as education app Snapsolve and music service APP Resso, chose to lay off Indian employees and operate in a low-key manner. The ban has not only put Chinese companies in a difficult position, but also allowed local Indian companies to see opportunities.The ban on TikTok has spawned the rapid development of short video apps in India, with dozens of local startups launching short video apps and receiving more than $1bn in funding. The Indian market, one of the world's most promising growth markets, remains irresistible. For those going overseas, the Indian market is still worth paying attention to, but a more cautious strategy is needed to meet the growing challenges. Welcome to leave a comment to share your views, how do you think Chinese companies should deal with the "ban tide" in the Indian market? For more information about the ban in India, please follow "Yangfan Goes to Sea" WeChat public number, and send the keyword "India ban information" to get detailed information.