📱 Chinese Telecom Giants In Line Of Fire (Again) As India’s Pushbacks Get Stronger

Chinese telecom giants are in deep trouble yet again with India for their misdoings.

After Huawei and Xiaomi, we’ve got the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income Tax (IT) department, and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) peeping into Vivo and Oppo’s books.

The two have landed in a spot of bother as the regulatory agencies found them guilty of money laundering and tax evasion, respectively.

The Skullduggery

After searches were conducted at the office premises of Oppo India and residences of its key management employees, it was found that Oppo evaded customs duty worth Rs. 4,389 Cr .

The company had been wilfully declaring incorrect descriptions of certain items imported by its Indian arm for use in the manufacture of mobile phones.

Why the scam? Oppo wanted to avail of duty exemption benefits amounting to Rs.2,981 Cr for ineligible items.

As for Vivo, the smartphone maker was found hiding Rs. 73 lakh worth of cash and 2kg gold bars after its 48 locations were raided.

And that’s not all.

Two of the Chinese directors of Solan, a Himachal Pradesh-based company, associated with Vivo, had fled the country, and these Chinese nationals were made directors in the company with fake documents.

Woah!

So who’s hiding behind the ‘Shams And Scams?’

Vivo and Oppo, who are both called phone makers — are in fact two brands under a single giant company called BBK Technologies.

This hidden giant also owns the Realme, OnePlus and iQOO brands.

BBK is a Dongguan-based privately held smartphone manufacturer started by a secretive billionaire called Duan Yongping in 1995.

It controls one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated electronics supply chains — but still never finds a mention in the list of top phone makers with Apple or Samsung….wonder why?

Let’s just say — it was a part of Yongping’s strategy to keep BBK under the wraps when he first started the company in 1995.

Notably, BBK is closing in on becoming the world’s largest smartphone maker, with Oppo and Vivo commanding a global market share of 10% and 8%, respectively.

This puts BBK on par with Apple (18%) and ahead of Xiaomi at 13%.

Too long? Here’s a one-liner: Oppo and Vivo have been accused of money laundering and tax evasion by Indian central agencies; parent company BBK Technologies also faces probe.

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