China-linked businesses and investors seek comeback in India


Fashion brand Shein, maker of mobile game ‘BGMI’ and venture capital find ways back into world’s most populous market. 6park.com
一些与中国有关联的科技公司找到了办法重返印度。时尚电商公司Shein重启印度业务，射击游戏《绝地求生：印度版》重新上架。



China-linked tech companies are finding ways to break back into India, giving fresh hope to investors that their businesses can overcome trade tensions between the countries and power new growth. 6park.com
一些与中国有关联的科技公司找到了办法重返印度，这给想要在印度投资的企业带来了新的希望，即克服印中两国之间的贸易紧张、实现新的增长是可能的。 6park.com
    
Online fashion company Shein has pursued an alternative deal structure to relaunch in India in partnership with Reliance Industries, the country’s biggest listed company. It had been among dozens of Chinese apps banned in 2020 over alleged national security concerns following deadly clashes on India’s border with China. 6park.com
时尚电商公司Shein已找到一种另类交易结构，通过与印度最大上市公司信实工业(Reliance Industries)合作，在印度重启业务。在印度与中国发生边境冲突导致伤亡后，印度以国家安全担忧为由封禁了数十款中国应用，Shein就是其中之一。 6park.com
   
Battlegrounds Mobile India, a shooter game published by the Tencent-backed South Korean company Krafton, relaunched on app stores last week, a year after it was banned allegedly over fears that Indian user data was being transferred to servers in China. 6park.com
由腾讯(Tencent)支持的韩国公司魁匠团(Krafton)所发行的射击游戏《绝地求生：印度版》(Battlegrounds Mobile India)上周重新在应用商店上架。一年前，印度以担心印度用户数据被转移到中国服务器上为由封禁了这款游戏。 6park.com
   
Without naming China, Indian minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said last month that BGMI would be available for a three-month trial after addressing concerns over “server locations [and] data security”. 6park.com
印度电子和信息技术国务部长拉吉夫•钱德拉塞卡尔(Rajeev Chandrasekhar)上月表示，在解决了对“服务器位置（和）数据安全”的担忧后，《绝地求生：印度版》将上线试运营3个月，他没有提到中国。 6park.com
   
Shein’s partnership with Reliance — recently approved by the government — is a licensing agreement where the Chinese group will receive a percentage of Reliance’s profits from sales of its clothing rather than invest directly in India. 6park.com
Shein与信实工业的合作——最近得到了印度政府的批准——是一项许可协议，根据该协议，这家中国集团将从信实为其售卖服装所获利润中抽取提成，而不是直接在印度投资。 6park.com
   
“This could well be an inflection point for future such structures to be adopted,” said Karam Daulet-Singh, managing partner of foreign investment-focused law firm Touchstone Partners. 6park.com
专注于外国投资业务的律师事务所Touchstone Partners的管理合伙人卡拉姆•道列特-辛格(Karam Daulet-Singh)表示：“这很可能是一个拐点，未来会有更多企业采用此类结构合作。” 6park.com
   
“You need someone of Reliance’s stature and position in the Indian ecosystem in order to be able to do something so high profile, and not try and keep it below the radar.” 6park.com
道列特-辛格称：“你需要在印度商业生态系统中有像信实工业这样威望和地位的合作者，才能如此高调地行事，而无需试图尽量不引起注意。” 6park.com
   
Shein last year also made its Singapore arm its de facto holding company, a strategy known as “Singapore washing” that is being deployed by Chinese investors looking to take corporate stakes in countries that are sensitive to mainland investment. 6park.com
去年，Shein还让其新加坡子公司成为其事实上的控股公司，这种策略被称为“新加坡漂洗”(Singapore washing)，想要在对中国内地投资敏感的国家收购企业股权的中国投资者正在采用这种策略。 6park.com
   
BGMI’s return could prove significant to a gaming sector hit by a series of abrupt bans on popular games for alleged links with China. Krafton last month said the ban on BGMI, which had 100mn downloads as of last year, had hit the growth of its mobile business, but it had now “put in place several measures to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations”. 6park.com
《绝地求生：印度版》的重新上架可能会对游戏行业产生重大影响。此前，一系列受欢迎的游戏因被指与中国有关联突然被禁。魁匠团上个月表示，《绝地求生：印度版》被禁打击了其手游业务的增长，但该公司现在“采取了多项措施，以确保遵守所有适用法规”。截至去年，《绝地求生：印度版》的下载量达1亿次。 6park.com
   
“This is something [other gaming companies] can definitely consider as a precedent,” said Ranjana Adhikari, a technology partner at law firm IndusLaw. 6park.com
律师事务所IndusLaw的技术业务合伙人兰贾纳•阿迪卡里(Ranjana Adhikari)表示：“（其他游戏公司）绝对可以把这当作一个先例。” 6park.com
   
The Shein and BGMI developments do not follow any official policy change in New Delhi, and severe curbs on investment from China remain. Regulations introduced in 2020 stipulated that any deal in which the “beneficial owner” was Chinese or based in China would require New Delhi’s approval. 6park.com
Shein重返印度和《绝地求生：印度版》重新上线并不是因为新德里方面发布了任何官方新政策——对中国投资的严格限制仍然存在。2020年出台的法规规定，任何“实益所有人”为中资或总部设在中国的交易都需要得到印度政府批准。 6park.com
   
Investors expect this to continue, keeping out all but the most determined companies. However, deals such as Shein’s tie-up with Reliance, which do not involve foreign direct investment, do not require the same approvals. 6park.com
投资者预计这种政策将持续下去，除了最不屈不挠的公司外，其他公司都将被拒之门外。然而，不涉及外国直接投资的交易，如Shein与信实工业的合并，则不需要这样的审批。 6park.com
   
The 2020 rules led to a sharp slowdown in deals. Investors in China participated in 53 Indian tech funding rounds worth $2.8bn last year, compared with 72 worth $3.1bn in 2019, according to figures from data provider Tracxn. 6park.com
2020年出台的规定导致交易大幅放缓。根据数据提供商Tracxn的数据，去年中国投资者参与了53轮印度科技融资，价值28亿美元，而2019年的数字分别为72轮、31亿美元。 6park.com
   
India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in March that 54 investment proposals from China and Hong Kong were awaiting government sign-off. 6park.com
印度财政部长尼尔马拉•西塔拉曼(Nirmala Sitharaman)今年3月表示，来自中国内地和香港的54项投资提案正在等待政府批准。 6park.com
   
By contrast, Indian venture capital deals involving a Singaporean entity jumped from 68 in 2019 before the rule change to 205 in 2022, according to data from Refinitiv. 6park.com
相比之下，路孚特(Refinitiv)的数据显示，涉及新加坡实体的印度风投交易数量从2019年（政策改变前）的68笔跃升至2022年的205笔。 6park.com
   
Some lawyers and investors argue that routing investments through other countries such as Singapore has helped, despite the restrictions on beneficial ownership. A number of Indian companies also have holding companies in Singapore. 6park.com
一些律师和投资者认为，绕道新加坡等其他国家进行投资的办法有所帮助，尽管存在对实益所有权的限制。许多印度公司也在新加坡设有控股公司。 6park.com
   
“There is nothing illegal about it, but there is a sense now after a few deals have been successful that having the investor entity based in Singapore rather than China might help with the approval process,” said one Singapore-based lawyer who advises Chinese clients on investments in India. 6park.com
“这并不违法，但在多笔交易成功达成后，现在有一种感觉，即把投资实体设在新加坡而非中国，可能有助于审批。”一位常驻新加坡、为中国客户在印度投资提供咨询的律师表示。 6park.com
   
Shunwei Capital — established by Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s founder Lei Jun — invested in Indian market automation platform WebEngage and dairy brand Country Delight last year through its Singaporean affiliate, SWC Global, set up in 2020. Shunwei declined to comment. 6park.com
去年，中国智能手机制造商小米(Xiaomi)创始人雷军创立的顺为资本(Shunwei Capital)，通过其2020年成立的新加坡子公司SWC Global投资了印度营销自动化平台WebEngage和乳制品品牌Country Delight。顺为资本拒绝置评。 6park.com
   
One Indian official disputed the point that attitudes had softened but said New Delhi was receptive to proposals. “There was never a blanket ban on anything Chinese,” the official said. “Wherever there is a case which seems to be good for the country, we do what is good for the country.” 6park.com
一位印度官员驳斥了印方态度有所软化的说法，但表示新德里方面乐于接收提案。“从来没有对中资的全面禁令，”这位官员表示，“只要是有对国家有利的事情，我们就会去做。” 6park.com
   
However, onerous delays and strict data storage requirements still put off many would-be investors. 6park.com
然而，磨人的拖延和严格的数据存储要求仍让许多潜在投资者望而却步。 6park.com
   
One Hong Kong-based venture capitalist who invests in early-stage companies in India said that while “there has always been interest . . . India is one of the most bureaucratic countries in the world”. 6park.com
一位投资印度早期阶段公司的香港风险投资家表示，虽然“一直有兴趣……但印度是世界上最官僚主义的国家之一”。 6park.com
   
“When investors see it could take over a year to get approvals, they just walk away,” the investor said. 6park.com
“当投资者看到可能需要超过一年的时间才能获批时，他们会转身离开。”上述投资者表示。 6park.com
   
Rajeev Suri, managing partner at Mumbai-based Orios Venture Partners, said a slowdown in tech funding over the past year meant India could no longer be as picky. 6park.com
总部位于孟买的风投公司Orios Venture Partners的管理合伙人拉吉夫•苏里(Rajeev Suri)表示，过去一年的科技融资放缓，意味着印度不能再那么挑剔了。 6park.com
   
“If you go to the government today and say, ‘Hey, I want to do a [deal]’, they’re not likely to shut the door on you,” he said. 6park.com
“如果你现在去找政府说，‘嘿，我想做一笔（交易）’，他们不太可能把你拒之门外。”他说。 6park.com
   
But he added that this had not yet translated into more activity. “If there’s no certainty . . . money is not going to start to flow back in,” he said. “Not too many players can play the regulatory game that Reliance can play.” 6park.com
但他补充说，这尚未转化为更多交易活动。“如果（政策依旧）不确定……资金就不会重新开始流入。”他表示，“没有多少企业能像信实那样跟监管部门耗。” 6park.com
   
The director of one Chinese venture capital fund with a Singaporean entity said: “I got the sense that India had a painful realisation of how important mainland investment was to the growth of its start-up industry after tech fundraising fell off a cliff in 2022. 6park.com
一家拥有新加坡实体的中国风投基金的董事表示：“我感觉，在2022年科技融资大幅下滑后，印度已经痛苦地意识到，中国内地的投资对印度初创企业的增长有多么重要。 6park.com
   
“Shutting the taps off entirely did not work out well.” 6park.com
“把水龙头全部关掉的结果并不好。”