An Indian state agency released nearly 27,000 Vivo Mobile Communications Co smartphones for export after withholding the shipment for more than a week over alleged rule violations.
The Union finance ministry’s revenue intelligence unit on Wednesday allowed the Chinese company to collect the devices it was holding at the New Delhi Airport over an alleged misdeclaration of phone models and their value, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named discussing a sensitive matter. Vivo had sought to export the devices to neighbouring markets.
The government agency passed the order to release the smartphones a day after Bloomberg News reported that the devices were being withheld for inspection. It wasn’t immediately clear if the revenue intelligence unit will be pressing charges against Vivo.
The shipment, worth nearly $15 million, is unlikely to be exported as the packaging of many of the phones was damaged and the devices were switched on to check unique ID numbers, the people said.
The finance ministry and Vivo didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment.
An industry lobby group called the seisure of the phones “unilateral and preposterous,” urging India’s technology ministry to help and warning that such moves could hit India’s ambitious plans to become an export hub.
Vivo exported its first batch of India-made smartphones in early November to markets such as Saudi Arabia and Thailand. But the latest snag could cloud its future in the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, where the company is already under scrutiny for alleged money laundering, a claim that has yet to be proven in court.
