Alibaba Shuts Down Operations Of UC Browser, UC News In India; Sacked Employees Do Not Receive Severance Package

UC Browser a subsidiary of China's Alibaba group has suspended its operations and is laying off its India team. According to an ABP source, the company was planning to wrap up the business for the past 6 months.

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New Delhi: Complying to the Indian Government’s ban on 59 Chinese apps, UC Web browser, a subsidiary of China's Alibaba group stopped its services and has now suspended its Indian operations and laid off the Indian team. Launched in 2004, UC Web is around a decade old and had about 130 million active users in India alone. The company laid off almost 90% of its Indian workforce, via video conferencing. The Alibaba owned company did not issue a formal notice, but according to a Mint report, “all employees were given a minimum of 30 days’ notice.” An ABP news source, however, said that the company was planning to shut its operations from the past six months and the Chinese ban app gave them an opportunity to implement it. They were officially given the notice on Wednesday. “They were already planning it for the last 6 months and this app ban has given them a better excuse. Today the employees were told officially to pack their bags and that the company was packing their entire online business content from India which majorly includes - UC browser, UC news, and Vmate,” the source said. So far according to the source, no severance package has been given to the employees. According to a Reuters report, the India employees who were working at Alibaba-owned video-blogging platform Vmate were also laid off according to an internal letter dated 15 July. In a “digital strike” which followed after the violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh’s Galwan valley, India banned 59 Chinese made apps. The step was taken as it was said to be a threat to India’s sovereignty and security. Among the banned apps were TikTok, Vmate, and UCWeb browser. After the government's decision tUC browser had announced their compliance and had even warned users to back their data by 10th July.

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— UC Browser (@UCBrowser) July 7, 2020