BANGALORE - The Indian government's new curbs on foreign direct investment from China might kick the legs out from under the table of the biggest tech start-ups in India, experts say.
Analysts read this change as an attempt to prevent opportunistic takeovers of Indian firms as their valuations and capital dip amid the Covid-19 crisis. Mr Ji Rong, the spokesman for the Chinese embassy called the change"discriminatory" and asked India to"treat investments from different countries equally."China is the 18th biggest foreign investor in India, with a share of 0.5 per cent of total FDI invested since the year 2000. But it has shown more interest recently.
Mr Hari Menon, the co-founder and chief executive of BigBasket, said,"It doesn't affect us right now. We don't need to raise money for some time." Representatives from Zomato and PayTM, which have also received Chinese funds, did not respond to The Straits Times' queries seeking reactions on the new FDI policy.
"It's important to remember that Chinese FDI is not banned. It will just go through the scrutiny route now," added Mr Kailasam.