Companies that have been banned from participating in tenders include Xp-pen, Highvision Hikvision, Lenovo, Dahua, Lava, Ottomate, Xolo, Airpro, Grandstream, Wi-Tek, Realtime, Maxhub, Nokia, Domino, Reputer, Tyro.
Government of India has banned 17 Chinese companies from participating in tenders in India and warned private companies that do business with government entities against using these Chinese products. This is being seen as a significant crackdown on Chinese products that were entering the country after changing their brand names and tying up with Indian entities, ostensibly to hide their place of origin, and thus impacting the strategic and security interests of India while benefiting the Chinese economy.
The companies that have been banned include Xp-pen, Highvision Hikvision, Lenovo, Dahua, Lava, Ottomate, Xolo, Airpro, Grandstream, Wi-Tek, Realtime, Maxhub, Nokia, Domino, Reputer and Tyco.
The Sunday Guardian, last year, had revealed about Chinese products being used in government public sector undertakings that are working in the strategic sectors (Indian PSUs continue reliance on Chinese equipment in strategic sectors, 26 February 2023).
As per the government order released on the last day of January, the Indian sellers of these Chinese brands and the catalogs uploaded by them have been removed from Government e Marketplace (GeM) and they are not eligible for participating in any bid on GeM. The order has also said GeM will cancel those orders where the products of these Chinese companies are found to be used for the bid.
Seventy products, the maximum on the list, that have been banned belong to Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd., often shortened to Hikvision. Its Indian face is Prama Hikvision (India) Pvt. Ltd. It is one of the biggest suppliers to Indian government agencies.
Similarly, DNS overseas, which handles products brought from the Beijing-based Hanvon Ugee Group and is a big player in the tablet market in India, has been removed from the GeM portal.
Twenty two products made by Lenovo, including servers, have been banned. Not many are aware that Lenovo is of Chinese origin.
Lenovo, founded in 1984, is seen as a product of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)—the Chinese-government’s premier institution of scientific research. CAS is reported to have extensive ties to the Chinese military.
Five products of Zhejiang Dahua Technology Company Limited, a publicly traded company based in Binjiang District, Hangzhou, which manufactures video surveillance equipment and sells its products in India under the brand name “Dahua” also features on the banned list.
Nineteen products of Lava International, whose brand ambassador is actor Kartik Aaryan, and has used cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the past, too have been banned. Also put on the banned list are products made under the brand name “Ottomate”, which is also a part of the Lava group. The products that have been banned include smart phones, fans and tablets. While Lava is seen as an Indian company, its products are made in China and then sold in India under a new brand name.
Thirteen products of Airpro have been put on the banned list including routers and cameras.
Five products of Grandstream and W-Tek that are sold in India by Cohesive Technologies have been removed from the portal.
Thirty one products made by “Realtime” and sold by Realtime Biometrics India Private Limited companies that include boom barriers, biometric access system, CCTVs have been banned.
The government has also come down heavily on the Chinese entity, Maxhub that sells its products through Shiyuan India Private Limited. A total of 18 of its products have been banned.
Six products sold by Hmd Mobile India Private Limited that are made by Nokia have been banned. According to industry insiders, the banned products are being manufactured in China. The brand had launched a media blitzkrieg a few years ago to convince Indian nationals that it was not making its products in China.
Seven products made by Tyco and marketed in India by Tyco Safety Products (India) Private Limited, two of Domino sold in India by Domino Printech India Llp and one of Reputer sold domestically by Innovitiq have been banned.
However, what has piqued industry insiders and security watchers is that many entities with notable Chinese investments and control that are active in India have not been added to this list.
These include products made by Huawei, Alcatel Lucent—a French company now owned by Chinese promoters, TvT, Tiandy Technologies and Uniview. All these companies have a significant presence in India and have been dealing with government agencies for a long time now.
On 6 August 2020, a Registration Committee under Department of Expenditure Order was constituted under the chairpersonship of Manmeet Kaur Nanda, a 2000 cadre IAS officer, who was then Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, to consider applications received for registration of bidders from countries that share land border with India for participation in public procurement.
It is this committee that keeps an eye on the products from the identified countries and evaluates the risk, if any, that is poised by them. In November 2023, Nanda moved as Joint Secretary to the Cabinet Secretariat. Sources in Government of India said that this is not an exhaustive list and more companies will be added on the list as per inputs that the concerned officials will receive.
Responding to the ban, a Nokia spokesperson said, “We would like to clarify that Nokia has a licensing agreement with HMD Global to use the Nokia brand name on their mobile phones, tablets and accessories and HMD Global is responsible for producing and selling these mobile phones. Nokia is no longer involved in the mobile phone manufacturing and marketing business.”