Misdeclaration. FinMin Unit Releases Vivo Phones Held Over Suspected Violations

About 27,000 Vivo Mobile Communications Co. smartphones have been released for export after shipments were delayed for more than a week due to alleged regulatory violations.

Late Wednesday evening, the finance ministry's tax intelligence unit allowed a Chinese company to recover devices it had withheld at New Delhi airport over allegations of misrepresenting phone models and prices, it said. sources familiar with the matter. sensitive issue: Vivo's business was looking to export devices to nearby markets.

The agency ordered the release of the smartphones a day after Bloomberg News reported the devices had been held for inspection. It wasn't immediately clear whether the Internal Revenue Service's investigative unit would pursue the charges against Vivo.

The shipment, worth about $15 million, is unlikely to be exported because the packaging of many of the phones was damaged and the devices were turned on to check for unique identification numbers, the people said.

The Treasury Department and Vivo did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The abyss deepens

An industry lobby group called the phone seizures "one-sided and absurd", asking India's technology ministry for help and warning that the move could hit India's ambitious plans to become an export hub.

The political rift between India and China has intensified since the two nuclear-armed nations clashed over a disputed border in the Himalayas in the summer of 2020. New Delhi has also tightened its controls on Chinese companies operating in India, including including SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, owned by MG Motor. . India Pvt Ltd. and the local divisions of Xiaomi Corp. and ZTE Corp.

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The supply freeze is likely to worry other Chinese smartphone makers in India, where the nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing them to ramp up exports and establish local supply chains. This could jeopardize India's ambitious goal of $120 billion in electronics exports by the end of March 2026.

In early November, Vivo exported the first batch of Indian-made smartphones to markets like Saudi Arabia and Thailand. But the latest setback could cloud its future in the world's second-largest smartphone market, where the company is already under scrutiny over money laundering charges that have yet to be proven in court.