India may ban Tencent-backed PUBG Mobile

Chinese conglomerates had once jumped into the global race with technology as the ammo of choice. They fought competitors, raced for users but China's mission failed.

It is game over for China, at least in India. New Delhi has banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok. Now, PUBG may be next. It is China's most valuable internet conglomerate. 

Tencent backs PUBG Mobile and has 10 per cent stakes in its parent company Bluehole. In 2019, PUBG contributed $1.3 billion into Tencent coffers with 24 per cent of PUBG's total downloads from India which is its largest market.

However, India may soon be shutting its door to the Chinese game. Reports claim that India is considering banning PUBG. It is being examined for data breach and violation of national security. 

PUBG is not alone. There are around 275 Chinese apps on the table among them are Zili by Xiaomi, Ali Express by Alibaba, Resso and Ulike by ByteDance.

There are also apps from Chinese companies like Meitu, Perfect corp, Sina corp, Netease games and Lbe tech, if they fail to pass the national security and user privacy tests, they will be out of India.

TikTok's ban was hurtful enough for China as the app lost 200 million users and 30 per cent of its global downloads, they now stand to lose the world's second-largest internet market with 450 million smartphone users.