A lobbying group made up of Apple and other tech giants operating in India has publicly pointed out that Indian authorities misunderstood how royalties work after local officials quarreled with Xiaomi over royalties. .
The Indian Cell Phones and Electronics Association (ICEA) has sent a letter to various Indian authorities urging the federal government to intervene, accusing the country's law enforcement agencies of a "lack of understanding" of royalties in the tech industry . Xiaomi, OPPO, local Indian company Lava, as well as Apple and its suppliers Foxconn and Wistron are all ICEA members.
Earlier, India's anti-money laundering agency accused Xiaomi of transferring funds abroad and falsely claiming that it was used to pay royalties. In April, the agency froze more than $700 million in funds from Xiaomi's local subsidiary in India. Xiaomi disputed the asset freeze action in India, saying the company's royalties and bills were all legal and true, and the statements it filed with financial institutions were accurate. The funds freeze was later put on hold pending a final court ruling.
While the ICEA letter did not specifically mention the Xiaomi case, it warned that allegations that companies illegally paid royalties could have a "chilling effect" on the Indian business environment , as Indian authorities would also interpret a similar interpretation of royalties. used by other companies.
In a May 30 letter to India's federal minister of finance, trade and technology, ICEA said law enforcement had taken "a position" that royalties were an easy way to bring money out of India. “We understand that it is the responsibility of Indian agencies to identify wrongdoing, but in this case they were not fully informed. Patent implementers face a dual dilemma of paying onerous royalties and fear of enforcement on the other Action," ICEA said in the letter.
India's finance ministries, trade ministries and science and technology ministries and anti-money laundering agencies have yet to comment.
In addition to Xiaomi, India has expanded its investigation to other Chinese companies, and is currently investigating alleged financial misconduct by ZTE and vivo 's Indian subsidiaries.
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