A man walks past an advertisement of Chinese mobile phone maker VIVO, in Mumbai on June 22. Photo:AFP

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo is reported to have pulled out of sponsoring the Indian Premier League 2020 after disagreement with India's authorities over a discount, following an array of problems for Chinese businesses in the country. 

According to a report by Indian news outlet the Economic Times, the brand's withdrawal comes after a disagreement over sponsorship fees with India's Board of Control for Cricket. Vivo has been looking for a reduction in the sponsorship sum amid the influence of COVID-19, and opted to pull out of the sponsorship as India's anti-China sentiment grows. 

Vivo declined to comment when reached by the Global Times on Wednesday.

Vivo is the latest big Chinese company to experience difficulties in operating in India, where public sentiment as well as government policy have been increasingly hostile toward Chinese companies. 

Baidu Search and Weibo, two of the most popular apps in China, have also been blocked, according to local media reports on Wednesday. Weibo has over 500 million users globally, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi until recently, and Baidu has been planning to expand its presence in India, the reports said. 

Earlier in June, the Indian government announced a ban on 59 Chinese apps, including some of the biggest, such as WeChat and TikTok, which were wildly popular in the Indian market. WeChat stopped providing services to its Indian users in late July. 

Global Times