Free Fire app to make a comeback in India? Singapore raises concern over ban

New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has recently informed that it had banned the operations of 54 Chinese apps in India, including the popular gaming title Garena Free Fire. Several other apps that had connections with Chinese companies such as Tencent and Alibaba were also banned. 

Singapore has now raised concerns about the ban of technology group Sea Ltd, according to a report by Reuters. The development comes after the market cap of the New York-listed Southeast Asian company plummeted by about $16 billion in a single day. 

Investors are reportedly also worried that India might extend the ban to Sea’s e-commerce platform Shopee. The app was recently launched in the country by the Singaporean company. 

Reuters reported that Singapore had asked officials in India why the app was banned in a move that was largely focused to target Chinese apps, despite the fact that Sea is based out of Singapore. 

India is the largest market for Free Fire and one its premium versions, Free Fire MAX, according to the number of downloads. However, in terms of sales, India made up just 2.6% of Sea`s mobile-game net sales in 2021.

Free Fire had emerged as the most downloaded mobile game worldwide for December 2021 with close to 24 million installs, which represented a 28.2 per cent increase from December 2020.

Recently, China had also responded to the latest crackdown on Chinese apps. Beijing had expressed its concerns, saying it affected the interests of the Chinese companies, according to a report by Sputnik. Also Read: Google to discontinue Chrome's 'Lite Mode' on Android

The Chinese Commerce Ministry’s spokesperson Gao Feng said that the ban damages the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies. Also Read: Siri gets new voice in iOS 15.4 beta