Chinese Firm Xiaomi's Top Exec Summoned Today In Probe Over India Practices

New Delhi:

Probe agency Enforcement Directorate has summoned Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi's former India managing director, to appear before it in a probe linked to the firm's business practices conformed with Indian foreign exchange laws, sources said today.

Mr Jain has been asked to appear before the investigators by 11 am today at its Delhi headquarters.

Probe agency ED is learnt to have issued summons to Mr Jain earlier asking him to join the investigation against the Chinese firm.

Sources told news agency Press Trust of India that the agency has started an investigation against the Chinese firm in February this year based on some specific inputs and that the former India head of China's Xiaomi Corp, Manu Jain, is asked to share details related to the investigation of whether the company's business practices conformed with Indian foreign exchange laws.

Mr Jain, currently the global vice president at Xiaomi based out of Dubai, was currently in India, the sources told Press Trust of India, though the purpose of his visit was not clear.

Probe agency ED actions indicate its widening scrutiny of the Chinese smartphone maker, whose India office was raided in December last year in a separate investigation over alleged income tax evasion. Some other Chinese smartphone markers were also raided at the time.

According to Press Trust of India, the Enforcement Directorate is probing the existing business structures between Xiaomi India, its contract manufacturers and its parent entity in China, as well as various other things including fund, flows between Xiaomi India and its parent entity.

China's Xiaomi is among the biggest of India's smartphone sellers and the firm reportedly was on top in selling smartphones in India in 2021 followed by South Korea's Samsung Electronics. Xiaomi also deals in other tech gadgets in India, including smartwatches and televisions.