New Delhi, Jul 1 (KNN) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has called for an investigation into investments made by Chinese firms in various Indian startups to ensure that data accrued by these startups is not being transferred to Chinese investors and there is no threat to the country’s security.

The traders' body has sent a communication to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman, Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urging them to ensure that there is no foul play is taking place under the garb of investment as Chinese companies invested heavily in many start-ups in India.

“We request you to order for an investigation of investments made by Chinese companies in various Indian startups to ensure that the data accrued by these startups is not being transferred to Chinese investors in any way and there is no threat to the security of the country,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in the letter to Sitharaman.

Welcoming the government's decision to ban on 59 Chinese apps, CAIT national president B C Bhartia and secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said that now that the government has taken several decisive steps to implement in reality the clarion call of Prime Minister Modi for " Vocal on Local" and "Atamnirbhar Bharat", the Government has made its intentions very clear that India will go for " Self Reliant Bharat" under all circumstances which is quite laudable. 

CAIT also demanded a probe into manufacturing plants set up by Chinese firms in India.

Some of the majors Chinese companies that has invested in Indian start-ups are Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Paytm .com, Swiggy, Ola, OYO, Zomato, Policybazaar, BigBasket, Delhivery, Make My Trip, Dream 11, Hike, Snapdeal, Udaan, Lenskart.com, Byjus Classes, Citrus Tech etc, CAIT said, adding that Chinese Companies like Alibaba, Tencent and others are lead investors in many of these startups and as such it is to be ensured that no foul play is taking place under the garb of investment.