A man cleans a screen displaying a phone model of Chinese smartphone maker Vivo inside a shop in Ahmedabad, India, on December 14, 2018. (Reuters/Amit Dave)
India’s anti-money laundering agency said on Thursday it seized 4.65 billion rupees ($59 million) in bank accounts and cash as well as gold bars belonging to Chinese smartphone maker Vivo Mobile Communications Co.’s local unit and its related companies.
The agency raided 48 locations and found Vivo remitted 624.76 billion rupees or roughly half of its local sales outside of India, mostly to China, according to a statement from the Enforcement Directorate.
"These remittances were made in order to disclose huge losses in Indian incorporated companies to avoid payment of taxes in India,” the agency alleged.
A Vivo representative in India didn’t answer calls, text messages or respond to an email seeking comment.
Vivo’s woes follow a close review by Indian authorities of bigger rival Xiaomi Corp.’s local unit on accusations that it moved money out of the country by falsely claiming it was for patent-fee payments.
New Delhi, which has heightened the scrutiny of Chinese-origin firms since a Himalayan border clash between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in 2020, is probing the local units of ZTE Corp. and Vivo for alleged financial improprieties, Bloomberg News reported previously.
China took note of the raids, with a spokesman for its embassy in India urging the country to enforce the law and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies operating in India.
