China in India: Why local investors aren't to blame

With recent retaliatory actions (such as the banning of critical Chinese-made apps) taken against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) by the Indian government in response to unprovoked military aggression on their (disputed) northern hordes, many in the Indian general public have taken up the task of criticizing Indian investors for the “lack” of local investment in Indian start-ups and companies. Most of these “critics” justify their stance by claiming that this perceived lack of local investments in India is the major factor behind the overwhelming number of Chinese investments in the country, however this is quite far from the truth.

By nature, Chinese investors are quite different when compared to investors of other nationalities. Chinese investors mostly tend to expect little to no monetary returns from their investments, rather they see this as a way to expand their (and their country’s) sphere of influence, in other words, to increase Chinese soft power on a global scale. Additionally, most of these investors tend to have close ties to (or are alleged secret proxies of) the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and are seen as a key infrastructure in this autocratic and undemocratic regime’s expansion plans to undermine their foreign rivals or perceived threats (countries like India).

It should be noted that there are quite a lot of local investors available for Indian companies, however many prefer the Chinese option as they tend to offer deals which are generally too good to be true.

In conclusion, these Indian start-ups (and other such companies) prefer to make a deal with the figurative devil (and possibly compromise national security in the process) instead of working for and earning local or less controversial investments