Government outlines agreement between Reliance Retail and Shein, requires strict data localisation for India reentry (#1687100)

The government’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has outlined to parliament that Shein‘s return to India will require strict data localisation in India. Shein’s partner for the Indian market, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, will have full control of its India operations and production within India is expected to generate employment opportunities in the country. 

“The license agreement covered the protection that ownership and control of the platform will always remain with RRVL through its wholly-owned subsidiary,” said Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in a response in parliament, the Press Trust of India reported. “As per the agreement, at all times, the platform will be hosted on infrastructure in India and all platform data will remain in India with Shein having no access to, or rights over, such data.”

As part of the agreement, the new Shein India platform will sell products made and supplied by local businesses under the Shein brand. These goods will also be sold in the global market. This, according to Goyal, will help to create employment opportunities in the domestic textile and clothing industries and boost the sector’s performance. 

“RRVL is also advised to ensure compliance with all existing laws of India and security audit of complete infrastructure can be undertaken by any government empanelled cyber security auditor,” said Goyal. The Shein shopping app was banned in India in 2020 as part of a list of businesses which the Indian government banned in the country due to data privacy and national security concerns. The government clarified that it was the Shein app, not Shein products themselves, that were banned in India.