India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), the agency in charge of administering the ban, said it has no immediate plans to lift the sanctions on any Chinese made or published apps and that the government’s position on PUBG MOBILE has not changed.
The Indian government has no immediate plans to lift the Sept. 1st ban on PUBG MOBILE or any of the other 117 apps for iOS and Android devices published or developed by Chinese companies.
According to an InsideSport report. “There is no discussion within the ministry officially to revoke ban on any of the apps listed in the ban list. We will stay away from making any comment on any specific company or app,” a ministry source told InsideSport.
The report also claims that no one related to PUBG MOBILE has reached out to the agency to discuss the ban.
Speculation on the ban possibly being lifted in the future is being fueled by reports that PUBG Corp. is in talks with Reliance Jio to distribute the game in India. A Business Today story reported that Reliance was in talks with PUBG Corp. to serve as a distribution partner in India, and that negotiations were in an “advanced stage.” PUBG Corp. and Reliant have not commented publicly on the validity of this story. PUBG Corp. terminated its publishing agreement with Tencent on Sept. 8.
While there are other battle royale games in India such as Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty Mobile and Garena’s Free Fire, PUBG MOBILE is by far the most popular and has a well-established esports ecosystem that far outstrips any other property in the region.
All of the Chinese apps removed from iOS and Android app stores were targeted because of escalating border tensions between India and China. The Indian government claims that these apps are detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, and security of state and public order–the inference being that China is using these apps to spy on India and steal data.
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