India’s policy (as per the Economic Survey 24-25) is now to walk & integrate with China, instead of ignoring China and Chinese VCs in India are establishing themselves as the world leader in manufacturing. This is a shift from the stance since 2020, where the FDI from China was put under stringent approvals and saw a downfall in numbers, Chinese apps were banned from India, and India presented itself as an alternative to China to the world – the China plus one stance (taking advantage of the growing geo-political tensions between China & major economies).
However, the changing policy is good news for the investing climate and startups in India. China is a global superpower and has been a major backer of big tech companies in India. Various estimates suggest that it has already developed into the second-largest VC market in the world, falling only behind the US. Additionally, China hosts the second-largest number of startups with valuations over $1 billion.
It’s to be noted that Chinese VCs in India have been very active tech investors. Over 75 companies, with Chinese investors concentrated in e-commerce, fintech, media/social media, aggregation services, and logistics, make up 30 or more of Indian unicorns (start-ups with valuations of over $1 billion). Some examples of investments by Chinese VCs in India include BigBasket, Byju’s, Ola, Makemytrip, Delhivery, Dream11, Flipkart, Hike, Policybazaar, Quikr, Swiggy, etc. (The key investors have been Alibaba Group Steadview Capital Tencent Fosun 复星 etc)
