While there are many calls to boycott everything Chinese, the sad truth is that it’s next to impossible to totally remove Chinese owned products from our everyday lives. In this thread I’ve tried to compile info on how deeply China has penetrated the Indian tech ecosystem.

Chinese investors like Alibaba and Tencent have a major stake in 18 out of top 30 unicorn startups in India. These include companies like PayTM, Ola, Oyo, Flipkart, Snapdeal, BigBasket, Swiggy, Dream11 and Zomato.

Chinese investments in Indian tech startups amount to over $8 billion. These investments allows China to control the Indian tech sector, and by extension, our everyday lives.

As Chinese companies’ investments in online payment and ride sharing apps increase, there’s a growing fear that sensitive user data can allow comprehensive profiling of millions of Indians. Experts say that these investments are a part of China’s digital belt and road initiative.

Chinese stake in Indian startups is even larger if we take into account investments coming in from companies based out of Singapore and elsewhere, whose ultimate owner is Chinese.

All Indian startups with a valuation greater than $1 billion are foreign funded. Some like Flipkart and PayTM are totally foreign owned. A major reason for that is coz India doesn’t have major domestic VC companies.

Another reason why Indian startups found it difficult to raise money domestically was coz of “Angel tax” that was introduced by UPA govt in 2012. Angel tax, that’s now been scrapped, was a direct income tax levied on startups for the funds raised through angel investors.

Reliance through its venture firm, GenNext Ventures is funding many of India’s nascent stage startups. In FY18-19, RIL has entered into over 49 M&A and investment deals globally. Domestic VC firms might eventually reduce foreign footprint in Indian startup space.

China also holds control over many foreign apps that are popular in India. Many of the games we play are from companies that are either Chinese owned or have major Chinese investments.

For example, Riot Games, Epic Games, Ubisoft and PUBG have a considerable Chinese stake. Other Chinese gaming apps include Clash of Kings and Mobile Legends.

TikTok owned by Chinese company ByteDance is one of the most popular apps in India. This app is so popular that even Govt of India has joined this platform

ShareIt, UCBrowser and CamScanner are some other Chinese apps that are popular in India.

Chinese smartphone manufacturers Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi have been the top sellers in India during the first quarter of 2020, with combined share of more than half the market.

Since Chinese investments are so deeply entrenched in the Indian startup ecosystem, we knowingly and unknowingly keep using Chinese owned products. This is unlikely to change anytime soon coz there are no alternatives