Phone Maker Vivo Sent 50% Of Income To China, Rs 465 Crore Seized: Agency

The Indian arm of Chinese smartphone maker Vivo sent Rs 62,476 crore - almost 50 per cent of its turnover - mainly to China to avoid paying taxes, the country's financial crime fighting agency said on Thursday.

"These remittances were made in order to disclose huge losses in Indian incorporated companies to avoid payment of taxes in India," the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

The agency has blocked 119 bank accounts linked to Vivo's India business which were holding Rs 465 crore, Rs 73 lakh cash and 2 kg gold bars, as part of a probe into alleged money laundering by the company.

The ED, which launched pan-India raids against Vivo Mobile India Pvt. Ltd. and its 23 associated companies two days ago, said an ex-director of Vivo, Bin Lou, left India in 2018 after incorporating several companies that are now under its scanner.

According to the ED, they have evidence that Vivo officials used forged documents while incorporating the companies.

The addresses mentioned did not belong to them, but in fact it was a government building and house of a senior bureaucrat, the agency said.

It alleged that "employees of Vivo India, including some Chinese nationals, did not cooperate with the search proceedings and tried to abscond, remove and hide digital devices which were retrieved by the search teams."

Vivo has said it was cooperating with authorities and was committed to full compliance with Indian laws. The company is one of India's biggest smartphone makers, accounting for a 15 per cent market share, according to Counterpoint Research.

The action is being seen as part of a wider effort by the central government to tighten checks on Chinese entities that have been accused of serious financial crimes like money laundering and tax evasion while operating in India.

The ED in April ordered the seizure of Rs 5,551 crore worth of deposits of Vivo's rival Xiaomi India, another Chinese smartphone giant, for allegedly violating foreign exchange rules.

The stepped-up action against the Chinese-backed companies in India comes two years after the military stand-off between the two countries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that is yet to be fully resolved.

China on Wednesday expressed hope that India will conduct the ongoing investigations against Vivo by the law and regulations and provide a "truly fair" and "non-discriminatory" business environment to the country's firms.