'China doesn't play by rules': PolicyBazaar CEO offers to buy back Tencent's stake in parent firm

Amid ongoing border tensions with China, PolicyBazaar CEO Yashish Dahiya has offered to buy back Tencent's 10 per cent stake in the parent firm EtechAces. Dahiya said this as he believed China is "not playing by the rules" by keeping its economy closed to companies worldwide. EtechAces Marketing and Consulting owns online financial services portals PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar.

"China has not played by the rules for 30 years and that is the reason why they have built up all this capital. Why should we give equity in our fast-growing companies, data and revenue streams to them (China) when we can give to others, like Americans, Japanese, Britishers who reciprocate," Dahiya told The Times of India.

Dahiya also backed the decision by the government to scrutinise investments from China. However, he also said that the government should enact proper rules to differentiate between what's an investment and threshold of shareholding considered as control. It would help the local companies from getting negatively impacted, he added.

Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a bitter standoff at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last seven weeks. Tensions escalated after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash in Galwan Valley on June 15. Following this, the government has taken a  slew of measures including banning 59 Chinese apps and cancelling contracts earlier given to the Chinese firms. Banning of short-form mobile video making app Tik Tok is alone estimated to cost parent firm ByteDance $6 billion loss.Also read: COVID-19 fallout: Home sales plummet 67% in April-June across Mumbai, Bengaluru, other major cities

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