Xiaomi India discontinues Mi Credit, Mi Pay apps

Phone maker Xiaomi’s India subsidiary is no longer offering Mi Credit, the personal loan marketplace that it operated. The Mi Credit app is no longer on the Play Store, and the third party service APKMirror lists the last update to the app as taking place in July.

TechCrunch broke the development on Friday, reporting that the company’s financial services overall have been wound down.

Mi Pay, a UPI app run by the company, is also no longer available. The app’s name has been removed from the website of the National Payments Corporation of India, where it was listed in July. A Twitter user said they were not able to use the Mi Pay app. The service had 50 million registered users in India, and has been pre-installed on phones sold by the company.

Entrackr was not able to get beyond the loading screen of Mi Credit. An archived version of its listing on the Play Store shows that the app was listed for download as recently as September.

“As part of the annual strategic assessment activity and as a response to enhanced focus on our core business services, we closed the Mi Financial Services in March 2022,” a Xiaomi spokesperson told Entrackr. “In a short span of 4 years, we were able to connect and support thousands of customers. We are working with our partners and supporting our consumers during this process. We will continue to bring [the] latest technology and innovation for all with our products and services in the future.”

Like some other Chinese phone brands, Xiaomi has been a target for tax authorities. Rs 5,500 crores in the company’s Indian bank accounts were seized by the Enforcement Directorate in April, money that the company says it uses to make legitimate license fee payments to companies like Qualcomm in the US.

The firm has appealed the seizure at the Karnataka High Court.

Last August, Xiaomi announced its credit marketplace would disburse quick loans in partnership with firms like Axis Bank, Early Salary and Aditya Birla Services. The firm also said it would offer gold loans. It partnered with Stashfin for a branded credit card.

The company has also moved quickly to deny reports of moving its manufacturing operations to Pakistan. After ruling the roost in India’s large mobile phone market, the latest move signals the impact of the government’s enforcement wings on the India business, and readers can be sure that this impact is still playing out.  

Update (2:45 pm): Added statement by Xiaomi.