India partners with Alibaba.com for export push despite past China tech bans

India partners with Alibaba.com for export push despite past China tech bans

India’s authorities has partnered with China’s Alibaba.com on an export-focused program geared toward serving to startups and small companies attain abroad consumers. The transfer highlights New Delhi’s selective engagement with Chinese-linked tech platforms years after it imposed sweeping bans on shopper apps and games.

This week, the Indian authorities’s Startup India initiative announced the collaboration with Alibaba.com to determine and assist Indian startups that may help onboard and scale Indian exporters on the group’s global B2B platform. The program provides commissions and technical assist to those startups to help small producers and merchants in reaching abroad markets.

The new partnership arrives after years of strained India–China relations. New Delhi banned dozens of Chinese-linked apps in 2020 following a lethal border conflict, including major platforms such as TikTok, PUBG Mobile, and AliExpress, an e-commerce app operated by Alibaba Group. Those restrictions stay in place, making the Indian authorities’s public collaboration with Alibaba’s export-focused platform a fastidiously circumscribed type of engagement slightly than a broader coverage reset.

India’s export ambitions are carefully tied to its small companies and the platforms they use to achieve abroad markets. Micro, small, and medium enterprises account for practically half of the nation’s exports and about 31% of GDP, according to the Indian authorities’s latest Economic Survey, underlining why New Delhi has centered on increasing digital market entry for smaller corporations by means of global B2B channels, including Alibaba.com.

Alibaba.com’s B2B platform connects more than 50 million lively consumers across over 200 nations and areas, said Rocky Lu, head of India enterprise at the company.

“Alibaba.com has been active in India for over two decades, and we remain dedicated to our core mission of empowering MSMEs to scale their businesses globally,” Lu told TechCrunch. “Our focus continues to be on leveraging our digital infrastructure to help ‘Made in India’ products reach an international audience through digital transformation.”

Lu didn’t affirm whether or not the Startup India initiative marks Alibaba.com’s first direct partnership with India’s federal authorities since 2020. He said, however, that the company has “maintained a consistent cadence of engagement with various government and semi-government bodies integral to the Indian export ecosystem,” including by means of digital training applications for MSMEs and collaborations with export promotion councils.

The partnership displays India’s differentiated method towards China, sustaining restrictions in strategic and security-sensitive sectors while permitting financial engagement the place there may be clear profit, said Kazim Rizvi, founding director of the New Delhi-based public coverage suppose tank The Dialogue.

“Going forward, regulatory clarity will be important,” Rizvi told TechCrunch. “Predictable policy environments will help ensure that startups feel confident participating in such initiatives.”

The Indian authorities appears to be drawing a distinction between export-focused platforms and consumer-facing Chinese apps, said George Chen, associate and co-chair of the digital follow at The Asia Group, a Washington-based consultancy that advises corporations on coverage and geopolitical dangers across Asia. Chen, who beforehand served as a regional public coverage director at Meta, said New Delhi sees worth in Alibaba’s function in supporting B2B exports, significantly given the platform’s attain in markets such as Africa, which may assist Indian exporters diversify their global sales.

India seems to be drawing classes from China’s method to digital platforms, Chen told TechCrunch.

“China bans foreign apps like Facebook and Instagram for Chinese individual users but still allows Facebook and Google to do business with Chinese companies, especially exporters who rely on those platforms to sell products abroad,” Chen said.

The Startup India collaboration follows other current steps by Alibaba.com to broaden export-focused companies in India. In June 2025, the company launched its Trade Assurance program in the nation, geared toward serving to Indian small and medium-sized exporters handle dangers in cross-border transactions by means of fee safety and dispute-resolution instruments.

The developments also come as India and China present tentative indicators of improved engagement in multilateral technology boards, with Chinese representatives anticipated to attend the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi next week. Indian officers, however, haven’t indicated any change to restrictions on Chinese shopper technology platforms.

The Indian commerce ministry didn’t reply to a request for comments.

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