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Chinese investors in Indian unicorns: India sitting on data trap

While the government did see the threat from the Chinese apps, it does not see any from investors from China accessing data of Indian consumers from their Indian partners.

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By Sambhav Sharma

With the ban on some 220 Chinese apps, India may have protected its sovereignty and integrity from prying Chinese eyes. But authorities, however, don’t seem to have a clue in protecting the country’s data from Chinese investors, who continue to invest in Indian apps and unicorns and gain access to data of users, who are predominantly Indian citizens. Besides the agreements between the investors and the apps are not in public forums for analysts to study it.

While the government did see the threat from the Chinese apps, it does not see any from investors from China accessing data of Indian consumers from their Indian partners. It is high time the government answer this question: Should the government continue to allow Chinese investors in Indian unicorns without adequate norms for protecting Indian users’ data?

During 2016-19, Chinese investments in Indian start-ups have grown 12 times. An India Today report  listed the Alibaba Group’s strategic investments in Indian unicorns, starting from Big Basket ($250 million), Paytm.com ($400 million), Paytm Mall ($150 million), Zomato ($200 million) to Snapdeal ($700 million). Tencent, the other Chinese company, has invested in Indian firms like Byju’s ($50 million), Flipkart ($300 million), Hike Messenger ($150 million), Ola ($500 million) and Swiggy ($500 million). The investment from China seems to have fallen in 2020 following changes in the foreign direct investment rules that made prior government approval mandatory for investments from countries that share a land border with India. The Alibaba Group is among those hit by the new norms and is unlikely to sign fresh deals to fund Indian companies.

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A recent Indian Express report said a Shenzen-based tech company with links to the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party is monitoring 10,000 individuals and organisations including key decision-makers like the Prime Minister, Chief of Defence Staff among others.

Given the ban on apps because they were a threat to security, the government is yet to formulate full-fledged data security norms. Cyberlaw expert Pavan Duggal, who spoke to APN, said, “Chinese apps like Tiktok, Shareit were a great threat to Indian data because these apps, compared to other apps, were asking for a lot of permissions. They were generating and collecting a lot of personal data of users and sending them to servers in China which could be analysed using artificial intelligence and machine learning.”

“Any and every server anywhere is vulnerable to a potential data breach. But servers in China are highly vulnerable as China has a national cybersecurity law from 2017 and under this law, any information to servers, systems located within China could be automatically accessed or shared with the Chinese government. Hence, data on Chinese servers is not at all safe,”

-Duggal

“On the other hand, India does not have any law on data protection. The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 is pending for consideration of the joint parliamentary committee. As far as data is concerned, India is a leaking ecosystem,” he said.

Economist Akash Jindal said India needs to curb Chinese investment because it’s a threat to national security. When asked about the economic impact of curbing Chinese FDI, he said if we are able to market ourselves well, we would be in a position to solicit the same FDI from other countries. 

On the security implications of  a potential data breach in apps/companies associated with Chinese investors, defence expert PK Sehgal said not only does India need to ban apps linked to China, but “we also need to ban companies like Tencent, Alibaba who are stealing our data”. The moment India does it, other countries will follow, he said.

Talking about modern warfare, he said predictability plays an important role in warfare and data can help to predict the enemy, hence, security implications of a data breach are manifold.  Data help to carry out psycho-analysis of important personalities and how leaders are going to react in a certain situation, he said. Sehgal emphasised on the need to take cyber warfare more seriously.

“India needs to secure data as the Chinese are in a position to create chaos and mayhem in India. Through the use of artificial intelligence, China can refine data and can impact India’s financial sector, railways, power grid. Before a single bullet is fired, there may be chaos and mayhem in India,” he added.

He emphasised on the use of information, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda as the tools of modern war. Last year, an Army jawan was honey-trapped via social media and ended up sharing confidential information with Pakistani agencies. When asked about the laws/guidelines for defence personnel using apps, Sehgal added the Defence Ministry has very clear instructions that defence personnel are not supposed to have these apps, but it is tough to monitor each jawan. Jawans are the most vulnerable for a potential honey trap, Sehgal said.

Read Also: Schools set to restart partial work in a few states

Given this situation, India needs to come up with a clear and cogent policy to deal with data localisation and specific guidelines so that the data has to be dedicatedly protected, otherwise Chinese investors could impact Indian security, sovereignty and integrity.

India News

After winning assembly election, 10 BJP MPs, including 2 ministers, resign from Lok Sabha

In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, state elections were won by 12 MPs, according to a BJP leader.

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10 members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Parliament, including two union ministers who emerged victorious in the assembly elections, resigned from the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, according to persons familiar with the situation.

Following their meetings with BJP President JP Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ten MPs tendered their resignations. They went to the speaker’s office with the party president in tow, where nine MPs tendered their resignation. Kirori Lal Meena, the 10th MP, tendered his resignation to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, state elections were won by 12 MPs, according to a BJP leader.

The ten MPs who have resigned are: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Diya Kumari, Kirori Lal Meena (a member of the Rajya Sabha); Arun Sao and Gomti Sai from Chhattisgarh; and Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, Rakesh Singh, Uday Pratap Singh, and Riti Pathak from Madhya Pradesh.

Baba Balaknath, a Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan, and Renuka Singh, a Chhattisgarh native who was elected as the union minister of state for tribal affairs, have not yet tendered their resignations.

The responsibility for agriculture is held by Narendra Singh Tomar, while the state minister for food processing and Jal Shakti is Prahlad Patel.

The fourth minister the BJP fielded in the state elections, Faggan Singh Kulaste, is the minister of state for steel and rural development, however he was unable to win the assembly seat.

These Members of Parliament are expected to tender their resignations, and there have been rumours of a potential reorganisation within the Union Council of Ministers.

In July 2021, the Union Council underwent its most recent major restructuring with the appointment of 43 ministers, comprising 36 new members. The most recent alteration occurred in May when Kiren Rijiju was replaced as law minister by Arjun Ram Meghwal, a minister of state. The position of minister for earth sciences was given to Rijiju.

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DMK MP DNV Senthilkumar expresses regret, withdraws controversial remark made in Parliament

He took to X (formerly twitter) and wrote commenting on the results of the five state elections, he did not use a word in an appropriate way. Not using that term with any intent, he apologized for sending the wrong meaning across.

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DMK MP DNV Senthilkumar S expressed regret over the controversial remark made in Parliament yesterday while targeting the Bharatiya Janta Party and said he was withdrawing his statement. He had apologized for his comments on social media. He took to X (formerly twitter) and wrote commenting on the results of the five state elections, he did not use a word in an appropriate way. Not using that term with any intent, he apologized for sending the wrong meaning across.

He said in the Lok Sabha the statement made by him yesterday inadvertently, if it had hurt the sentiments of the members and sections of the people, he would like to withdraw it. He requested the words to be deleted and he regret it. The ruling BJP termed at as disrespect of the Sanatani tradition and objected to this type of language in the parliament. Opposition leaders including Rajiv Shukla Congress MP’s Karti Chidambaram also condemned the statement.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore said they condemned what the DMK MP had said. He said what the Alliance partner is speaking cannot be attatched to Congress. He said the Congress stands for India and respects all religions. He further added this is a planned conspiracy by the BJP to stop the functioning of the parliament and divert its focus from the real issues.  The remarks were deleted from the DMK MP’s speech by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.

The third day of the 2023 Winter session started with shouts of Maafi Mango from BJP MPs even before the speaker started the proceedings of the day in Lok Sabha. Union Minister Piyush Goyal sought an apology from DMK MP TR Baalu for Kumar’s comments in the House. He said Baalu should apologise first. He asked how will the House function like this? Goyal asked how can any person say anything in this house and go? He demanded an apology from the DMK MP.

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Watch: Pakistani woman Javeria Khanum arrives in India to marry Kolkata man Sameer Khan

Sameer said his relationship had started in 2018. He had come back from Germany where he had been studying. He saw Javeria’s photograph on his mother’s phone and expressed his interest. He told his mother that he wanted to get married to Javeria.

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Javeria Khanum, a woman from Pakistan’s Karachi, arrived in India on Tuesday to marry her fiancé Sameer Khan, a Kolkata resident. The Indian government has granted the 21-year-old woman a 45 day visa. Khanum entered India through the Wagah border and was welcomed by her fiancé Sameer Khan and future father-in-law Ahmed Kamal Khan Yousafzai dancing to the beats of dhol.

Talking to the media Javeria said she wanted to thank the Indian government for their co-operation. She said borders do not matter when the intentions are pure. The couple is going to get married in January next year, after which she will apply for a long term visa.

Khanum said it is a happy ending and a happy beginning. She said everyone was very happy in her house. She said she could not believe she got the visa after five years. Maqbool Ahmed Wasi Qadian is a journalist and a social worker. He helped Javeria in getting the visa to come to India. He has helped many Pakistani brides in getting visas.

Talking to the media Sameer said his relationship had started in 2018. He had come back from Germany where he had been studying. He saw Javeria’s photograph on his mother’s phone and expressed his interest. He told his mother that he wanted to get married to Javeria. He said his friends from his time in Germany from Africa, Spain, the United States and other countries are going to attend the wedding in January.

In a similar incident a Pakistani national identified as Seema Haider crossed the Indian border via Nepal to marry a Noida based man Sachin Meena. Their relationship has become a topic of debate and discussion on national media. In another case an Indian women Anju had gone to Pakistan to marry her facebook friend Nasrullah. But she recently returned to India through the Wagah border.

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