ED accuses China’s Vivo of visa violations, siphoning off over Rs 1L cr

Many employees of Chinese smartphone maker Vivo and its Indian affiliates concealed their employment when seeking visas, and some breached rules by visiting the “sensitive” Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir, the Enforcement Directorate has said.

The court statement comes as tension rises with Beijing over business activities after New Delhi tightened curbs on incoming investment and banned hundreds of Chinese apps following border clashes in 2020 that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese troops.

The accusations, detailed on Tuesday in a court filing that is not public, follow the arrest this week of a Vivo executive, Guangwen Kuang, in a money laundering investigation launched in 2022 into India’s second biggest smartphone player.