India Bans 54 Chinese Apps Including That From Sea, Alibaba, NetEase, Tencent

  • India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has banned 54 apps it says are of Chinese origin, including Sea Ltd SE marquee game Free Fire, Bloomberg reports.
  • The apps banned include those belonging to Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHYAlibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA, and NetEase Inc NTES, and are re-branded versions of apps already banned by India in 2020.
  • Sea, founded in Singapore by Chinese-born founders who became Singaporean citizens, has focused on building a gaming and e-commerce business globally with backing from its largest shareholder Tencent.
  • Free Fire, the battle royale shooter often compared with PUBG, with over a billion downloads on Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google Play, was the highest-grossing mobile game in India in Q3 as per industry tracker App Annie.
  • The ban follows a long-running dispute between the two nuclear-armed nations after boiling over in a 2020 skirmish that left soldiers from both sides dead and drew stricter laws in India for investments from China, including the original app ban. 
  • Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 1.37% at $120.58 in the premarket on the last check Monday.
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