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Published: July 16, 2020 7:42:38 pm
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s subsidiary UC Web is slashing employees in India after a ban on 59 Chinese-origin cell apps that features UC Web’s browser and two different merchandise, in keeping with employees and an organization letter seen by Reuters.
India final month outlawed the apps following a skirmish between Indian and Chinese forces on a disputed stretch of Himalayan border wherein 20 Indian troopers had been killed.
It stated the apps threatened India’s sovereignty and safety and its tech minister described the ban as a “digital strike”.
UCWeb, which entered India a decade in the past and operated the browser together with a information app and the Vmate brief video app, advised some staff in a letter dated July 15 and seen by Reuters that they had been shedding their jobs.
“This termination is on account of the ban imposed by the government of India on UCWeb and Vmate, hampering the company’s ability to continue providing services in India,” the corporate stated within the letter.
UCWeb stated in a press release that it had complied with the federal government order and stopped providers however didn’t touch upon whether or not it had shut operations totally.
Chinese e-commerce big Alibaba declined to remark.
UC Browser had 130 million month-to-month energetic customers in India. The firm has beneath 100 direct staff in India and a whole bunch of third-party staff, sources stated.
Another banned app, an e-commerce service referred to as Club Factory (CF), has written to its Indian sellers saying it’s invoking a “force majeure” clause – liberating it from contractual obligations.
“We hereby wish to inform that all settlements with sellers on the CF app and website are hereby being put on hold until the ban of the CF app and website is lifted,” the agency stated in a letter to some 30,000 Indian sellers.
The India app ban requires a brief halt of enterprise actions and the corporate is working with the federal government to resolve their queries, Club Factory stated in a press release.
Operators of the banned apps, which embrace the TikTok video service, have been requested by India to reply 77 questions, together with whether or not they censored content material, labored on behalf of international governments or lobbied influencers, Reuters reported beforehand.
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