Huawei responds to surprise inspection in India: Business in India fully complies with laws and regulations

India's income tax department on Tuesday raided several offices of Huawei in Delhi, neighbouring Gurugram and the tech hub of Bengaluru as part of a probe into tax evasion.

Officials from the income tax department went through financial documents, account books and company records, Huawei's Indian operations and overseas dealings and allegedly seized some records, NDTV reported, citing news agency PTI.

In response to the news, Huawei said in a statement: "We have been informed of the visit of the income tax team to our office and their meeting with some personnel."

"Huawei is confident that our operations in India are in full compliance with all laws and regulations. We will contact relevant government departments for more information and fully cooperate in accordance with the laws and regulations."

In addition to Huawei, the Indian authorities also conducted surprise "inspections" on several Chinese companies including Xiaomi and OPPO. The Indian tax department issued a notice to Xiaomi India to recover about 6.53 billion rupees (about 558 million yuan) in taxes on the grounds of "suspected tax evasion". Other companies under investigation were also notified to pay the back taxes. Major Chinese companies in India have expressed their willingness to actively cooperate with the Indian government in the investigation and stated that their own operations are also legal and compliant.

The day before, Reuters quoted government sources as saying that India had banned 54 Chinese mobile applications for security reasons.