Chinese company Xiaomi shuts financial services business in India

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp has shut down its financial services business in India, four years after its launch, a Xiaomi India spokesperson said on Friday.

“As part of the annual strategic assessment activity and as a response to enhanced focus on our core business services, we closed the Mi Financial Services in March 2022,” the company spokesperson said.

Xiaomi India discontinues Mi Credit, Mi Pay apps

Phone maker Xiaomi’s India subsidiary is no longer offering Mi Credit, the personal loan marketplace that it operated. The Mi Credit app is no longer on the Play Store, and the third party service APKMirror lists the last update to the app as taking place in July. TechCrunch broke the development on Friday, reporting that the company’s financial services overall have been wound down.

Mi Pay, a UPI app run by the company, is also no longer available. The app’s name has been removed from the website of the National Payments Corporation of India, where it was listed in July. A Twitter user said they were not able to use the Mi Pay app. The service had 50 million registered users in India, and has been pre-installed on phones sold by the company.

“As part of the annual strategic assessment activity and as a response to enhanced focus on our core business services, we closed the Mi Financial Services in March 2022,” a Xiaomi spokesperson told Entrackr. “In a short span of 4 years, we were able to connect and support thousands of customers. We are working with our partners and supporting our consumers during this process. We will continue to bring latest technology and innovation for all with our products and services in the future.”

Xiaomi’s strongest market outside China is India. An investigation is also going on in the matter related to tax on the company. In April, India’s Federal Financial Crimes Agency froze Xiaomi’s assets worth $676 million. The company was alleged to have illegally sent money to foreign entities in the form of royalty payments. The Chinese smartphone, however, denied any wrongdoing. Many Chinese companies are facing trouble doing business in India due to political tensions since the border turmoil in 2020. The Indian government has since banned over 300 Chinese apps, including popular apps like TikTok, citing security concerns. The government has also tightened rules for Chinese companies investing in India.

The company led the India smartphone market in the third quarter this year. According to a report by market research firm Canalys, Xiaomi held onto the first place with 9.2 million units as the brand gained traction from July’s online sales ahead of the festival season.