India freezing $682 million worth of assets disappointing: Xiaomi

Mumbai: Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp expressed its disapproval of India ordering a freeze on $682 million of its assets in the country. The company said that it was "disappointed" with India's move, Reuters reported.

On Friday, an Indian appellate authority confirmed the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) order, issued in April, to seize 55.51 billion rupees. The probe agency said that it had found Xiaomi's illegal remittances to foreign entities by passing them off as royalty payments.

Xiaomi on Sunday released a statement saying that more than 84 per cent of 55.51 billion rupees the ED seized earlier this year was a payment to US chipset company Qualcomm Group as royalty. It will continue to use all means to protect the reputation and interests of the company and its stakeholders, it said.

It further said that Xiaomi India is an affiliate of Xiaomi Group companies and is in a legal agreement with Qualcomm to license IP for smartphone manufacture. Qualcomm also believed that the deal was legitimate, A paying the royalty to B, the smartphone maker said.

Xiaomi and Samsung are the leading smartphone brands in India, with 18 per cent shares each, Counterpoint Research data suggests.

In recent years, many Chinese smartphone companies in India faced backlash after political tensions emerged between the two nations following the Ladakh border clash in 2020.

India had banned 300 Chinese apps since the clashes, citing security reasons. These apps include the popular reels app TikTok. India had also become hard on Chinese companies investing in India.