Alibaba’s financial arm Ant Group rejected speculation it was considering offloading its stake in Indian mobile wallet company Paytm due to continued deterioration in relations between China and India, Reuters reported.
The news agency reported a sale was mooted by unspecified sources, but added the companies had each shot down the idea: a Paytm representative told it there had been “no discussions” among major shareholders.
Ant Group also issued a denial on Twitter.
The Reuters story is untrue. We are disappointed that Reuters decided to run the story based on false information. pic.twitter.com/2LhVVYWFQj
— Ant Group (@antgroup) December 2, 2020
Talk of a potential sale comes against a backdrop of growing political tensions between India and China, which has seen a build up of military forces along the national borders and a series of clampdowns on Chinese technology.
A high profile example is the banning of more than 200 Chinese apps by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information to date.
Reports earlier this year indicated the Indian government was also considering action to prevent Chinese equipment vendors providing mobile infrastructure to state-owned operators.
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